Valiant Hearts III
by 00LordZero00
Summary: (Sequel/Continuation of Valiant Hearts II) One story ends, and another begins. Tides of change sweep over the heroes with mixtures of shock, hope, fear and love. Things are not as they seem as a raven haired girl enters the fray against Organization XIII...
1. Prologue - Valiant Heaven

**A/N**

This is basically a lead in for my story of Valiant Hearts III, giving some insight on the beginning on the event just before my main story begins. Just so you know, this is our world; a world without the Heartless and without the Keyblade. If you are reading this and you have not read Kuugen the Fox's story Valiant Hearts II, then STOP and go read it. Its an amazing story, and you will most likely love it like I do.

Thank you and please enjoy my work and continuation of Valiant Hearts II.

 **Valiant Hearts III**

 **Prolog: Valiant Heaven – Another World**

Kairi jolted awake, panting heavily with sweat beaded on her body, her heart was racing a million miles, and she had a splitting headache. Her eyes darted around the room as if expecting to see some unknown figure jump out and attack her.

But she saw nothing, except for the four walls of her bedroom, a dresser in the far corner, a mirror on the wall opposite the door and collection of pictures of friends and family littered the otherwise blank wall.

After she calmed herself down, Kairi realized there were traces of tears going down her cheeks. Rubbing them away she began thinking long and hard about what she was crying for but the agony behind her eyes made it impossible to remember anything.

"Maybe it was that dream I had last night?" She asked herself as she tried to recall her last dream or even what happened the night before, but to no avail. Her mind drew a blank.

"Hmm… Guess it wasn't important." exclaimed the redhead as she dragged herself out of her twin sized bed.

She massaged her forehead in an attempt to ease the pain she felt as she shuffled to the mirror. She made a face at her reflection as she discovered she had a nasty case of bed head and slight bags under her eyes.

Then something in the background caught her eye. On the wall above her bed there was a note on a colorful piece of paper. Kairi looked back. It read:

" _Don't forget today is the party and you still need to get snacks, and decorations. Naminé and Olette should be stopping by around ten to check on you and help if needed. Also make sure not to let Naminé and Olette do all the work. Remember this was all your idea. So long for now_ _see ya at the party!"_

" _Signed: your neighbor Yuffie."_

Suddenly memories of planning this party for weeks in advance flooded back to her.

"Dammit," Kairi cursed and she ran into the bathroom to quickly brush her hair and teeth. Then she went back into her room and found a clean outfit in her dresser and changed before she made her way out of the apartment.

While heading out she glanced at the clock above the front door. It read 8:56.

"Good I got sometime before the girls get here." Kairi told herself as she went out the door.

A clicking sound told her the door was locked. Knowing it would be hard to get to and from town on foot; Kairi "borrowed" her neighbor's bike, promising herself she would bring it back.

In less than ten minutes she had gotten to town but her legs were starting to pay the price.

"I never realized…there was…so many…hills." puffed the winded redhead.

She rested against a sturdy lamppost and tried to regain her breath.

"Next time…I'm taking the bus." Kairi concluded.

Suddenly chills ran down her spine and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She lifted her head and stared across the street at a woman with water blue hair and was clad in armor as if preparing for war.

Then Kairi blinked and the woman was gone. Rubbing her eyes, she stared back in the direction of the strange woman. She was nowhere to be found.

"This heat must be getting to me." She said to herself just before she ran into someone.

"Sorry." Both parties apologized as Kairi recognized the faces. It was Tifa and Cloud walking together with their arms locked and cheerful happy smiles on one face and a permanent gloom over the other.

Something didn't seem right to the teen at first but didn't let it show on her face as not to be rude. "Hey…" Kairi said awkwardly from her internal confusion.

"Hey Kairi." Tifa said with exaggerated cheer, which also set off bells in the redhead's mind that she forcefully ignored.

"Can't wait for the party later, it's gonna be great, right Cloud?" said the woman as she elbowed the guy to add to the conversation. Cloud, not really wanting to say anything, or be talked to at all, only nods, and says a quiet "Sure."

Tifa, satisfied with Cloud's answer looked at Kairi and waved good-bye.

"Well. We'll see you there." Tifa said happily, and couple started walking again.

"See ya." Kairi says still somewhat confused about why something didn't feel right with that whole interaction.

"It's probably nothing." Kairi said to herself and continued to the Grocery Store to get snacks and decorations for the party.

Upon getting there Kairi looked at her cell phone clock.

"9:12, plenty of time." Kairi said reassuringly to herself, as she went into the store.

She'd gotten snacks, drinks, and some party decorations as quickly as she could.

After getting everything Kairi made her way to the registers, and used one of those self-checkout registers. After a brief moment of confusion of how to use the register, and some help form a very nice woman with long brown hair in two braids, one going down on either side of her back with a pink bow, and wearing a pink dress.

Kairi could feel another headache coming on upon seeing the woman, as a strange familiarity came from her.

"Do I know you?" the redhead blurted out looking at the woman as she felt her headache getting stronger.

Looking at Kairi with a confused expression, the woman answered "No dear, I can't say we've met before." she says still looking at Kairi in confusion.

"Are you sure, you seem really familiar." Kairi felt she knew her from somewhere.

Suddenly something caught Kairi's attention from behind the woman. Through the window she could see that same armor clad woman from earlier standing outside of the store looking at her, and again she blinked and the woman was gone.

"Are you ok, dear?" The pink dressed woman asked Kairi, looking at her with concern, giving Kairi a strange but warm feeling in her heart.

"Uh… yeah sorry, I spaced out. Oh and thank you for helping me with this." She said gesturing to the register.

"Your quite welcome." the woman said with a gentle and warm smile.

"I'm Kairi by the way" Kairi said extending her hand somewhat awkwardly.

After a moment the woman took Kairi's hand "Nice to meet you, my name is Aerith." The woman named Aerith said with a smile Kairi thought was so familiar.

After retracting her hand, Kairi checked her phone for the time, it said 9:37.

"Oh jeez, Um thanks again, and it was nice meeting you." Kairi said in a rush.

"It was nice meeting you too." Replied a somewhat amused Aerith as she watched the redhead leave, who of which still had that strange but comforting warm feeling in her heart.

Leaving the grocery store Kairi realized that the basket on her neighbor's bike was much too small to hold the decent sized amount of grocery bags that she was carrying.

Not really having a choice, Kairi left the bike, and went to the bus stop. Kairi also figured when Yuffie found out about her precious bike being left at the grocery store, she's probably going to be pretty mad.

"Sorry Yuffie." Kairi figured this was a bad idea as the bus began to pull up. In a rush, Kairi got on the bus and sat down randomly, setting her grocery bags down in the empty seat next to her.

Kairi noticed the bus was relatively empty except for a brown haired man wearing pretty much all black leather.

A feeling of familiarity striking Kairi again like it did earlier with the woman from the grocery store.

Ignoring the feeling Kairi looked out the window of the bus until she saw it was pulling up to the bus stop closest to her apartment. Getting up, and paying the bus fair, Kairi grabbed her groceries and made her way to her apartment. While walking, Kairi check the time again.

"9:46 this is going to be close," Kairi said, talking to herself "and I've got to stop talking to myself."

Upon reaching her apartment she pulled out her keys, unlocked the door and opened it. Walking in, Kairi pushed the door shut with a light nudge of her hip.

She set the groceries down on the living room table, and after a moment Kairi slumped down into one of the couches in the living room, sighing with relief.

"Well that was fun."

Immediately after saying that someone knocked… more like banged on the door repeatedly for at least 5 seconds.

Kairi, being agitated after all the previous "fun" she had, made her way to the door, and looked through the peephole.

Seeing who was on the other side of the door didn't help Kairi's mood, and only made her a little scared to open the door, but she didn't have much of a choice.

Opening the door Kairi was greeted by a loud and hyperactive "HI!" from the black haired girl in front of her.

"Hey Yuffie…" Kairi said somewhat awkwardly, still trying to come up with a way to tell her friend that her precious bike was at a grocery store roughly 2 miles away.

"Where is it?" Apparently Kairi better think faster.

Kairi tried to play dumb.

"Where's what?" She asked trying to look as innocent as possible and not make direct eye contact with Yuffie, whom of which was wearing her usual outfit of black shorts and tank top with matching boots.

Yuffie, not buying any of the "play dumb" act in any way, pressed Kairi further.

"My bike. Where is my bike? I saw you take it this morning coz I'm guessing you forgot about getting the stuff for the party. Am I right?" Yuffie asked with an accusing look at Kairi.

Not being able to avoid the question or think of a good excuse, Kairi answered.

"Ohhh… that, well ya see what had happened was." With every word Kairi's face got redder and redder do to embarrassment

"I used your bike to get to the grocery store in town, and when I went in and got the stuff I realized that the basket on your bike was too small to fit all the bags into it, so I took the—" Kairi was interrupted by Yuffie.

"Are you telling me you left my precious bike at the grocery store in town!?" She summarized getting a little louder with every word.

"Yeah pretty much, I'm so sorry Yuffie." Kairi said bowing her head in apology.

With a very loud and agitated groan, Yuffie scratched her head out of annoyance.

"Man now I gotta go into town later, and get it." The black hair girl said to herself, making Kairi feel even guiltier.

"But YOU owe me big time for letting this one go!" Yuffie said pointing at Kairi. Nodding, the redhead said

"I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you, I swear." And she meant it too.

Satisfied with that answer, Yuffie looked into Kairi's apartment.

"So what—" She was interrupted by a voice behind her.

"What are you two doing?" Looking over Yuffie's shoulder Kairi saw the owner of the voice, whom had a puzzled look on her face.

"Hey Olette." Kairi smiled and waved to her brunette friend as she approached, she also saw a flash of blonde hair behind Olette.

"And I see Naminé is hiding behind you." Kairi figured this would get Naminé to reveal herself, and that it did.

Looking over her own shoulder, Yuffie greeted the other two that have just arrived.

Upon being called out, Naminé came out from hiding behind Olette and hugged Kairi.

"You weren't supposed to do that, you meanie." she pouted as Kairi retuned the hug, but she felt her face heat up as she blushed for whatever reason… Was it this close contact with Naminé?

'What the?' Kairi thought to herself 'I hug her all the time, what's different now.'

"So, where should we get started, coz I'm guessing you forgot to set up for the party today." Olette's words brought Kairi back to the present situation; Kairi released Naminé and looked at Olette who had a smirk on her face.

"Umm, yeah something like that…" Kairi said scratching her head. "So where to start? Uhh how about the front door."

-Valiant Heaven-

"So when does your sister get back?" Olette asked Kairi after getting started on decorations, and helping Kairi get the ice-cream cake out and into the kitchen freezer.

"Oh she gets back around 3 o'clock. She's 3 years younger than me so she's finishing up her last year of middle school." Kairi explained while setting snacks on the knee-high wooden table in front of the T.V.

"Oh yeah and Kairi, Naminé and I ran into Tifa, and Cloud on the way here, and they told us they wouldn't be able to make it to the party." Olette had almost forgotten about the odd encounter with the stoic man, and the black haired martial artist.

"What; why?" Kairi asked puzzled since she saw those two not that long ago.

"I don't know, something about them running into some guy that bullied Cloud when he was a kid, so Cloud ran off after him or something like that." Olette didn't really understand it herself.

"Uhh… Ok then, no idea what that's about." Kairi responded still feeling puzzled.

"Also Olette did you and Naminé each bring a movie to watch during the party?" Kairi asked Olette, and Naminé while checking the clock, it read 10:57.

"Yeah I brought a good one." Olette smiled proudly about whatever movie she brought.

"I brought one of my favorite movies." Naminé had an adorable look on her face at the mention of the movie she brought, while she continued to pour drinks at the kitchens counter.

"Ok, now I'm curious. What did you two bring?" Yuffie was putting streamers up over the front door, and was looking down from the step stool she was standing on at Naminé, and Olette.

"I brought Tangled." Naminé responded immediately, with a smile like an adorable angel.

"Aww Naminé, that's so cute." Yuffie teased her friend.

Naminé was slightly confused as to why her choice of movie was cute, she gave Kairi a puzzled look, and the redhead answered Naminé's unasked question.

"It's cute because the movie suits you Naminé." Kairi couldn't help smile at how cute Naminé could be. Kairi suddenly felt her face blush fiercely at the thought of Naminé being cute.

'What's wrong with me, why do I keep blushing?' Kairi thought to herself.

Shaking her head, Kairi, hoping no one saw her blushing, looked at Olette.

"Uh so what did you bring Olette?" Kairi sat down on one of the two sofas across from the T.V.

One of the sofas was a lounge chair, and the other was a love seat, and the wooden knee-high table was in between the sofas, and the T.V.

Upon hearing the question Olette grinned…evilly.

"I brought my favorite zombie movie." Immediately the room was filled with agitated groans.

"What?!" Olette looked around the room, what was wrong with her movie choice.

"You seriously brought a zombie horror movie to my little sisters birthday party?" Kairi should have seen this coming.

"And what's wrong with that?" Olette saw no problem whatsoever.

"I told you, my sister scares easily, and she's pretty shy around people she doesn't know… actually she's pretty shy in general." Kairi shot back.

She remembered last Halloween when her and her sister went to a haunted house and her sister clung to her the entire time, Kairi smiled at the memory.

"Well, maybe this will help toughen her up a bit." Olette, as always being the brute. Kairi's smile faded and she glared at Olette who sat down next to her in the love seat grinning at her.

Again Kairi blushed for some reason that she could not figure out. 'Seriously, Again!' Kairi was starting to get annoyed.

As everyone finished doing their tasks they all joined Kairi and Olette in the living room.

"So why don't you tell us something about your dear sister since we've never met her, how bought for starters. What's her name? You don't want us to all yell 'Happy Birthday Kairi's sister.' Do you." Olette had a good point

"Oh yeah. I forgot you haven't met before… weird." Kairi found it odd that her best friends and her neighbor have never met her little sister before. Ignoring the odd feeling Kairi looked at her friends and smiled.

"Well for starters, her name is Xion."

-Valiant Heaven-

"Wait wait, your saying people think you two look exactly alike?" Olette asked Kairi after she made a comment as to how Kairi and Xion look nearly identical.

"Yeah, people who've seen us together have said we look like we're twins, except for our hair color, and height difference. I have a dark reddish shade of hair, while Xion has jet-black hair, and since I'm her older sister I'm taller, but only by a few inches." Kairi never really noticed that her sister looked like her that often, unless someone brought it up.

Kairi and her friends were watching T.V. to help kill time. The time on the clock was 2:50. Xion would be home soon.

Kairi was flipping form channel to channel as she felt her headache make a comeback again.

"Not again!" The redhead complained and began to massage her temples.

"What's wrong Kairi?" Naminé was looking at Kairi with concerned eyes.

"Oh it's nothing; my head has just been bothering me all day today that's all." Kairi replied as Naminé placed her hand on her forehead.

This close contact with Naminé again, Kairi could feel her face heating up, but a sudden blur on the T.V. screen over Naminé's shoulder caught Kairi's attention.

When she looked at it she saw the same armor clad woman from earlier looking directly at her, and apparently Kairi was the only one that could see her since no one else seemed to react at all to the screen blurring out.

"Kairi, are you ok? You're really pale all of a sudden." Naminé's concerned words caused Kairi to look away from the T.V. screen, and look at her friend.

"You don't see —" Kairi looked back at the T.V. screen, but the woman was gone, and the screen was playing the channel she stopped on, but Kairi's headache was still going.

"Uh, never mind, it's nothing." Naminé still looked at Kairi with concern.

"Ok…" Naminé said finally.

"Alright then… uh Kairi shouldn't we start picking out hiding spot." Yuffie said helpfully after listening to Kairi's and Naminé's exchange.

"Good idea, she'll be here in a few minutes." Kairi nodded, and checked the time again. It read 3:01.

With that said, all the girls picked different hiding spots around the apartment, except Kairi, who chose to wait by the window, and be look out. Kairi couldn't wait to see the look on her sister's face. Right on schedule the Xion's bus pulled up in front of the apartment.

Upon seeing this, Kairi stepped away from the window to stand in front of the door to surprise her sister. After a moment passed, Kairi heard the bus drive away, and the sound of jingling keys on the other side of the door. Then the doors lock clicked.

Xion opened the door to her sister's apartment. Stepping into the dark apartment Xion found her older sister Kairi standing directly in front of the door with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey Kairi," Xion was puzzled by her sister's smile. "Why are you—?"

"SURPRISE!"

Xion was cut off by three girls she didn't know, whom of which came out of different hiding spots around the apartment and yelled along with Kairi.

Xion, being very surprised, immediately hid behind her sister Kairi while her heart stopped racing from her sisters "surprise".

Upon seeing her sisters fear, Kairi petted her head.

"Sorry for scaring you like that." Kairi figured an explanation should help Xion calm down. "But, since your birthday is coming up I kinda invited some friends over to help throw a party for you."

Xion started to calm down, and looked at her sister's friends.

"Wow Kairi she really does look like you." Yuffie said looking at Kairi and Xion together. "And shy too." Olette pointed out, coming over to where everyone was. Kairi took the lead

"Xion let me introduce you to my friends." Kairi was trying to get Xion to open up a bit.

"Um…ok." Xion said hesitantly stepping out from behind her sister still looking at Kairi's friends.

"Ok good. So the really loud hyperactive black haired girl is our neighbor, Yuffie." Kairi gestured to Yuffie.

"Hi. Nice to finally meet ya Xion." Yuffie greeted loudly. Kairi was still confused how Xion hasn't met their neighbor, or her friends up till now.

Ignoring that feeling Kairi continue the introduction. "The brunette in the orange tank-top is Olette," Olette waved.

"Sup. Happy Birthday." She said with a smile.

Kairi continued "And the blond girl in the white dress is Naminé." Naminé gave an adorable smile.

"Hello Xion, it's good to finally meet you, happy early birthday." She said to a very flustered Xion.

"He...hello, and thank you for coming." Xion gave a small bow.

"AWW she's so cute Kairi and you've been keeping her all to yourself." Yuffie pouted and teased at the same time.

"Yep, and you can't have her" Kairi replied hugging her sister, who was blushing at Yuffie's teasing remark about her being cute.

"Well now that introductions are in order" Olette said dramatically. "LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" Olette has been wanted to shout that all day, which in turn scared Xion again and she was once again hiding behind her sister.

"Stop yelling, you'll scare her off." Yuffie said in a really bad australian accent.

"Ok, ok so Xion what do you want to do first?" Olette asked quietly to a very nervous Xion.

Xion peeked over Kairi's shoulder.

"Um… birthdays parties usually involve cake, right?" Kairi smiled affectionately at how adorable Xion could be.

"Yes, and I got your favorite kind too, is that what you want to start with?" Kairi asked.

"Yes please." Xion said smiling up at her older sister.

-Valiant Heaven-

Once the cake was eaten, and after a lot of joking, and teasing later, the girls were now sitting in the living room in front of the T.V. to finish the night with movies.

Olette and Naminé were sitting together on the love seat, Yuffie was sitting on the floor in between the love seat, and the table, and Kairi and Xion were sharing the lounge chair and a blanket.

"So what movie do we watch first?" Kairi asked, and then got an immediate response.

"Tangled!" "Shaun of the Dead!"

Naminé and Olette looked at each other eyes wide and immediately started to argue.

"My movie's cute and funny." Naminé put up.

"Well mine's funny and scary at the same time." Olette shot back.

"HOLD IT!" Kairi had to stop this pointless argument. "It's Xion's party, so let her choose the movie. Go ahead Xion, which one do you want to watch first?"

Xion, not to happy with being put on the spot again, used the blanket she and Kairi shared to hide herself with it, only her nose and up was visible.

"Um… I'd prefer the cute funny one, over the scary one." She said quietly.

"Mine's funny too." Olette tried to press on but Kairi stopped her.

"Xion chose, and we will watch your movie after. Ok Olette?"

Sighing in defeat Olette nodded. "Fine" and she slumped back into her seat.

Putting the first movie in everyone got comfortable. As the movie progressed and got more romantic, Kairi kept catching herself glancing at Naminé and Olette.

She kept blushing uncontrollably every time she looked at both of them on especially romantic parts of the movie.

'Really not again, why does this keep happening, and why is it always those two that keep causing it?' Kairi was seriously getting irritated by this recurring event.

Then on the part where the main character in the movie died, Kairi's headache spiked for a brief moment, and she didn't notice that she had tears rolling down her cheeks until Xion wiped them away.

"Are you ok?" Kairi could barely see her sister in the now dark room, but she could hear the concern in her sister's voice. Kairi smiled at her sister and hugged her close.

"Yeah I'm fine." Kairi's headache started to fade as she became more relaxed in her sisters presence.

For some reason, that scene in the movie reminded Kairi of something that happened to her recently, something painfully. But as if it was a dream, she could not remember what it was.

Shaking her head to try and clear her thoughts, Kairi just tried to relax and enjoy the rest of her night with her friends, and little sister.

By now the credit to the first movie were rolling, and Olette was already up and changing the disc's.

"Ok, get ready to laugh your asses off, and fear for your lives." Olette had a crazy smile on her face the whole time she said that.

"Uh Olette, you're not helping." Kairi said as her sister began to effectively hide herself further into the single blanket they shared. The only thing visible now was the light reflecting off her eyes from in the center mass of the blanket.

"Aww, she's so cute" Yuffie couldn't help but think how cute Xion was, trying to hide like that, and Kairi silently agreed and smiled.

"Don't worry. I'm here." Kairi said trying to comfort Xion by pulling her close, causing Xion to snuggle into her older sister's embrace and smile up at her.

"Thanks Kairi." Xion really loved her sister, especially when she was there to comfort her.

"You're welcome Xion" Kairi petted her sister's head and waited for the movie to start.

-Valiant Heaven-

When the Movie ended Kairi had to literally dig to get Xion out from hiding in the blanket, then the redhead gave Olette an angry glare.

"What?" the brunette had the nerve to look around innocently.

"Please don't ever bring a zombie movie to a person's birthday party." Kairi said dryly to her brute of a friend.

"But it was kinda funny on some part." Yuffie tried to defend Olette.

"Hmm it was a little funny, but not as good as Tangled." Naminé started. "Plus it was kinda violent." She finished with a grim look on her face.

"True, but that's beside the point. Olette don't bring zombie movies to birthday parties. It's not fun to watch people get eaten by zombies then expect cake afterwards."

Sighing, Olette answered.

"Ok, I get it, no zombie movies to birthday parties. Jeez your such a party pooper sometimes Kairi." Olette stuck her tongue out at Kairi.

"Anyway I gotta go, it's late, and I'm tired. So I'll see y'all later, and it was nice meeting you Xion." Olette got up and grabbed her belongings then made her way to the door and look back at her blond friend. "Naminé you want to walk back together?"

Naminé nodded to Olette, she got up and grabbed her stuff too, and waved good bye.

"Bye and Happy Birthday Xion." She followed Olette out the door.

"Well I better go too, it's almost midnight, and I gotta get up early tomorrow morning and head into town to get my bike." Yuffie gave Kairi an accusing look.

"I already said I'm sorry about that." Kairi sulked a bit.

"Heh heh heh, I know I just like to tease you, anyway I'll see you two around." Yuffie got up and went to the door but no before looking back at the birthday girl.

"It was nice meeting ya Xion." Yuffie smiled cheerfully to the other black haired girl, causing Xion to blush. With a quick "See ya later." Yuffie left, leaving Kairi with her sister,

"So, how was your birthday experience?" Kairi asked smiling at her little sister.

"It was great thanks to you." Xion answered immediately and hugged her sister affectionately.

"Good, I'm glad you had—" A massive amount of pain entered Kairi's mind so suddenly all she could do was cry out in pain, causing Xion to recoil in fright.

"Kairi! Are you ok?! What's wrong?" Xion asked in a panic, catching her sister as she fell to the ground.

-Valiant Heaven-

Pain is all Kairi could feel. Her mind was filling with images of herself doing things no human being could do. She saw darkness taking whole worlds, worlds she tried to protect and failed. Now Kairi could hear her sister crying out to her.

"Kairi! Kairi! Wake up, please wake up!"

Was that her sister? Kairi had memories of them growing up together, a whole life of affection that might be fake Kairi thought. The pain was unbearable, filling her mind with memories.

Kairi was remembering Destiny Island, Hollow Bastion, the Keyblade, the Heartless. Everything that happened to Kairi from the destruction of Destiny Island to the invasion of Hollow Bastion, Kairi was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of it all.

"Wake up Kairi! Please you're scaring me!" Xion was still here, Kairi could hear her, feel her shaking with fear next to her. She was real; Kairi grew up with her and their parents… didn't they, Kairi had those memories.

'Is this an alternate world' Kairi could barely think straight from all the pain in her head.

"What's happening to me?" Kairi said in a quiet pained voice.

"Kairi! What's wrong! Do you want me to call someone?!" Xion asked Kairi not knowing what to do.

Still lying on the ground, Kairi began remembering what happened to her, her death. Pain much like now had enveloped her, the suffering she felt now was just as bad as it was then.

Kairi could feel her mind practically breaking from the overwhelming amount of pain, and memories that enveloped her.

Opening her eyes one last time, Kairi looked up, she saw her sister sitting next to her crying, trying to keep her awake, but behind Xion was that armored woman again looking down at Kairi with a grim and sad expression.

Kairi looked back at her little sister with tears running down both her, and her sister's cheeks.

Then Kairi saw nothing but darkness, and felt nothing, no pain, just the cold.

-Valiant Heaven-

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**


	2. Return From Darkness - Reunion

**A/N**

Hello, my name is Zero. This story I wrote is a sequel to Valiant Hearts II by Kuugen the Fox, I read his amazing story, and after I finished reading it… well I cried for about six months, then I had an epiphany, I could continue the story myself. Kuugen told me that my story was not an author approved sequel, but he gave me the go ahead to write my story. I hope you who have read Valiant Hearts II will like my story. Please enjoy. Your feedback would be very welcome, and appreciated. Also I suggest, if you haven't already, reading Kuugen's Valiant Hearts II. It's awesome, and, if it wasn't obvious, my story is following directly after Chapter 28 of that story. Duh. So if you haven't read it, then stop reading this and go read Valiant Hearts II. Thank you.

 **Valiant Hearts III**

 **Chapter I**

Return From Darkness - Reunion

An endless shifting darkness… That's all she could see. Her body was numb from the freezing cold atmosphere around her.

Who was she? She could not remember.

Suddenly she felt the darkness shifting around her as her memories came flooding back to her; memories from the destruction of Destiny Island and the battle for Kingdom Hearts, to the Invasion of Hollow Bastion. The memories of Her home in Hollow Bastion with Aerith, and Tifa, her training with Leon, all her friends in Hollow Bastion, and the memories of Naminé and Olette, the two people that opened up her heart, Kairi's heart.

The memories of her death at the hands of Organization XIII, the merciless execution, the excruciating pain she felt until she emerged into…another world, another reality? Kairi did not know, but she had memories of that world where the Keyblade, the Heartless, the Nobodies, none of that ever existed, a world that Kairi deep down had always wanted.

Kairi had memories of having a…sister. Was she real? That girl Xion, Kairi had memories of the two of them growing up together with "their" parents. All those memories of being a loving and caring big sister felt so real to Kairi, the love she felt in those memories for Xion could not have been fake. But it no longer mattered, not anymore.

"I failed...I'm…dead." Kairi's voice echoed throughout the endless void for the first time, causing a sort of ripple in the Darkness. Looking around, Kairi began to realize there is no glory in death, only darkness.

A deep and cold despair, colder than even the atmosphere around her, came over Kairi at the realization of never seeing Hollow Bastion or her friends…no her family again. She'd never see Aerith, or Tifa, or Leon, or any of them ever again…and Naminé and Olette… the two girls she loved, she won't see their smiling faces, or hears their laughter ever again.

The further Kairi fell into despair the more she felt the Darkness cling to her, as if feeding off the misery she was giving off.

Falling into a deep despair, Kairi drifted aimlessly through the endless Darkness.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

"Dammit. Move out!" Leon ordered his search party in the direction of the sounds of gunfire and battle that were coming from the direction Ashe's party was sent to search. Is it the Organization? Leon had hoped that the summoning of Celsius would make them retreat for a time, if not then Hollow Bastion may be doomed. Leon would soon find out what was causing the disruption of the frozen wastelands eerie silence… which had returned.

Running as fast as he could with his injuries, Leon and his company continued on in the direction where the fighting was heard from.

While running at full speed Leon turned a corner only to collide with something, knocking it, or rather her, to the ground.

"OW! DAMMIT LEON, SERIOUSLY!" Olette yelled looking up at Leon while picking herself up off the ground.

Leon was a little stunned at the sudden outburst of the brunette he had just collided with, but recovered quickly. "Sorry, I see you're okay." Referring to having been frozen in Celsius's Ice, but Olette took it differently. "Not really, when someone runs head long into you at full speed. Jeez!"

Even after all the injuries sustained in the battle, and from being frozen in solid ice from the Elemental King of Ice, Olette was still able to yell like that. Leon was impressed.

Looking up, Leon saw who else was with the Keyblader, whom was acting more and more like her master. He saw a rather scorched looking Ashe, a brooding Basch, as well as a tired looking Naminé and Yuffie, and a little more than half of the men sent with Ashe. What happened to them, and where were the rest of Ashe's men?

Reading the expression on Leon's face, Ashe stepped forward as Olette went to stand by Naminé and Yuffie trying to push down her anger, now was not the time for such actions.

"We encountered an enemy that we did not expect." Looking away, Ashe gestured for Basch to step forward. Puzzled, Leon looked at him and noticed Basch was carrying something…no… someone.

It was what looked to be girl with jet-black hair wearing an Organization XIII coat. Leon had not seen any Organization members this small before. Her face was faced away from him so Leon could not see it, until Basch turned so he could make out her features. Leon was stunned from what he saw.

She looked exactly like Kairi.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

A flicker of Light in the Darkness.

Light in the corner of Kairi's vision caught her attention, looking over to where the light emanated from, Kairi waited to see if it would occur again, or if at all. There is only darkness here, so then what was that? The Keyblader wondered in her depression. After a few moments passed Kairi thought it was nothing, just her imagination playing tricks on her.

As her minuscule hopes vanished Kairi started to look away. Suddenly it happened again, a flicker of light that began to grow brighter into a beacon of Light in the Darkness.

While the Light glowed brighter, Kairi saw it was moving towards her, having to shield her eyes from the unexpected change in illumination as it grew until it was at the height of its brightness. Then the light began to dim slightly, allowing Kairi to look fully at the now glowing orb of light in front of her, feeling as though it had been forever since she's seen such light.

Kairi could feel the Darkness withdrawing from around her, as if fleeing the very Light itself. She felt the warmth returning to her body. The feeling was amazing. Kairi thought she would never feel anything like this again.

Now that the Light was directly in front of her, Kairi saw the orb beginning to shift into something. Almost like clay, it started to take the shape of the same woman that kept appearing to Kairi in that other world. She was still dressed for war, clad in full metal body armor like a medieval knight with a helmet hiding her face, and the woman's armor appeared to be shifting from different shades of blue, like a vast shifting ocean.

Kairi watched as the helmet the woman wore began to glow, and with a bright flash it was gone, revealing the woman's face.

She looked to be around the same age as Tifa and Aerith, she had kind blue eyes, short blue hair that stopped just above her shoulders and parted to one side of her head, and a kind face. Upon seeing Kairi, the armored woman gave her a gentle smile.

"Chosen One of the Keyblade you are needed in your world still." The woman's voice was like the soothing sounds of tides on a beach.

"Who are you?" Kairi felt a faint familiarity from this woman, as though they had met before in the past.

"I am Aqua," The woman named Aqua answered. "And you have spent enough time in the Darkness."

Upon finishing that statement a Keyblade materialized in Aqua's hand. It was, like Aqua's armor, an ever changing shade of blue, and emanated immense magical energy.

Now that Kairi noticed the magic coming off the Keyblade, she could feel that Aqua was giving off an aura of magical power that surpassed even that of Aerith's magic potential so much so that Kairi could not even grasp what this woman was capable of. This woman was a true Keyblade Master.

Keyblade in hand, Aqua gestured into the Darkness, then light ripped through the shadows, and in this everlasting darkness a portal of light opened, shining proudly.

"Go now, return to those you hold dear." Aqua looked at Kairi with a sort of sad smile and gestured to the portal.

It took Kairi a moment to fully understand what Aqua meant as in "return".

But then the whole situation just clicked and she understood exactly what Aqua meant. Kairi was going back. Back to her friends, her family, and back to Naminé, and Olette.

After drifting through this Darkness, Kairi thought she would do that for the rest of time, if time even existed in such a place, but now she was going back to her world, and to protect those she loved.

With tears in her eyes Kairi gazed at the portal then at Aqua, who still had that sad smile on her face.

"Come with me." Kairi asked before she could stop herself, but continued anyway. "Come back with me and leave this dark place." Kairi knew that no one should be in a place like this, even if they were as powerful as this woman appeared to be.

Aqua was grateful for the offer, but she knew she still had to wait for someone of her own to return from the Darkness.

"Thank you young Keyblader, but I too am waiting for those I hold dear to return from the Darkness." Aqua said looking at Kairi with less of that sad smile, and more of a gratifying smile, and then she gestured to the portal again. "Now go, before the Darkness devours the light."

With that Aqua began to glow and take the form of an orb of Light once more, and drifting away into the Darkness to continue waiting for those she held dear to return.

"Thank you" That is all Kairi is able to say before the Light that was Aqua faded into the Darkness. Turning to the portal of light Kairi noticed the Darkness was indeed starting to consume the Light.

Without much hesitation, Kairi drifted towards the portal, feeling it radiate warmth, and then she passed through it back into her world, back into her life.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

With a gasp of air and a surprising amount of pain, Kairi was back in Hollow Bastion. Immediately Kairi feels the freezing cold temperature around her bite into her exposed skin.

"AHH!" She yelled rubbing her exposed shoulders for some of the warmth she felt from the portal of light, but felt it fading fast.

"Who froze Hollow Bastion?" Her voice sounding gruff, and as soon as she said that, the thought of Naminé instantly popped into the redheads mind.

This would not be the first time Naminé froze a large area, but this was on a much more massive scale then when she made a small island of ice in the middle of an ocean.

Looking around Kairi saw through a window, seeing that all of Hollow Bastion was now a frozen hell. "Please be okay." Kairi pleaded for her friends, as well as everyone in Hollow Bastion.

Standing up off the metal plate, Kairi almost immediately fell back down do to her legs being nearly entirely numb from being exposed to the freezing temperature for however long she had been…dead.

Once the thought of herself being dead entered her mind a flash of the memories of being tortured and killed pushed it way to the fore front of Kairi's mind.

Kairi dropped to her knees and immediately threw-up the contents of her stomach, mostly liquids from her body being frozen then being thawed by the warmth from both Aqua, and the portal that brought her back.

After her stomach stopped trying to climb out of her mouth, Kairi stood up unsteadily while holding herself up on the nearby wall for balance, looking around for anything she could use to conserve her body heat.

The only thing Kairi could find was a black hooded coat used by the Organization, "Didn't see this coming" she said looking at it. Not having much choice, Kairi put it on and pulled up the hood to keep her head warm.

While it provided warmth it also made her look like an enemy. Better be careful with this on or I'll be attacked by friendlies, and if by anybody it would be Tifa… And I probably just jinxed myself, she laughed to herself.

After working out most of the kinks in her legs Kairi began to walk back towards Hollow Bastion through the now snow covered canyon.

Whatever caused this frozen hell, it may have been what caused the Organization to retreat, and her theory was proved further by the sheer amount of Nobodies frozen in solid ice, this must have been the bulk of the Nobodies army judging by immense size of their forces in the canyon.

"Someone must have summoned Celsius to make the Nobodies retreat. Smart, but risky," Kairi said to herself, this is the only way the Organization would have reason to retreat.

Continuing her long trek back, Kairi's mind fell on those she cared for in Hollow Bastion again.

"Please be safe everyone." With that said, Kairi continued to Hollow Bastion, and hoped to find those she cared about safe and in one piece.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

"The only things I can think of that connect this girl with the Nobodies is the woman we encountered from that trip to that horrible future." Olette explained to Leon as they continued through the frozen wasteland that was now Hollow Bastion to one of the accessible entrances that led to the underground Sanctuary that was built after the 'Bloodstained Hollow Incident', which is the name for the event that occurred when Kairi, Naminé, and Olette went into the future.

"In your debrief you informed us that the woman from the future could use two Keyblades." Leon turned to the former queen. "Ashe did she use more than one Keyblade?" He asked not having been there when Ashe and her party was attack.

"Not that we saw, she only used one that was white, but it did not look like the Keyblade Kairi uses." Ashe explained.

Leon was troubled by these turn of events. The appearance of this girl that looked like Kairi, and the fact she used a Keyblade was even more unsettling. "Did you search her for the Keychain to her Keyblade?" Leon had to make sure the girl was of no threat if she were to wake without them being prepared.

"We did." Basch responded, still carrying the girl that had attacked them earlier. "But she had no visible Keychains on her, the only thing she has on her is that coat she is wearing, and that to was empty of any possessions." Basch was especially disturbed by the small girl he carried on his back.

She was able to kill seasoned veterans that had fought at his side since the Heartless attacked his world as easily as if they were rookie recruits.

He was even more troubled by the fact that this girl had even almost beaten him and she had also nearly killed his queen. If it wasn't for Olette having come in the nick of time to knock the girl out Basch, Ashe, and all their men would surely be dead.

Hearing this, Leon was more concerned about what this girl was capable of, and the fact that Kairi was still missing in action did not help his suspicions diminish in the slightest, only making them grow.

Sighing Leon turned to those still following him through the wasteland. "Alright, after we return to base we will commence searches throughout Hollow Bastion for any sign of the enemy." Seeing that Olette and Naminé were looking at him, one glaring the other pleading, he added "And for any sign of Kairi, or any other survivors." Turning on his heels, Leon continued to lead those in his party to Sanctuary.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Tifa threw another large old book into the fire, and watched as the hungry flames ate the new source of fuel. She and Garnet sat around the fire trying to conserve as much heat as possible. Both Rydia and Aerith were still unconscious making it rather difficult to move through the frozen world outside, so they chose to stay put for the time being.

Tifa had moved Aerith to where the brunette's head was in her lap, stroking her partner's hair. Tifa looked down to at Aerith's face. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here and to safety, you just wait." Tifa continued to stroke the mage's brown locks.

If only she had made sure Aerith didn't do something so reckless, then they would not be in this situation, it was her fault for not preventing this, if only she were stronger… She could have stopped this from ever happening.

"Dammit, why is it always you who has to suffer for my weakness." Tifa pulled Aerith further into her embrace.

"Tifa, it wasn't your fault." Tifa looked over to Garnet, whom heard that last statement the marital artist spoke. "It was all our decision to form The Sorceress Pact, we had little choice. We needed to summon more powerful eidolons to fight the Nobodies; it was all our fault for not knowing that the pact would cause an anomaly such as that blob of raw magical energy."

Tifa opened her mouth to say something but Garnet continued. "And I fail to see how any of that," she said gesturing to window behind her and the frozen wasteland beyond it. "is any of your fault. It was Aerith, Rydia, and my self's fault for not knowing what the pact would cause, so we suffered the consequences." Garnet got to her feet and put her hand on Tifa's shoulder. "So please don't beat yourself up over things you could not control."

Tifa was surprised that someone of such a young age could tell her something Aerith would most likely say if she were awake. In times like these, one could not blame themselves for things that have already happened; they can only learn from them and move on.

"Thanks," Tifa said looking at Garnet gratefully, then movement from the window behind Garnet got her attention.

Tifa move Aerith's head out of her lap and onto some books. Grimacing she stood up and made her way to the window trying to ignore her bodies protests. "What's wrong?" the young mage asked.

"There's someone out there…again." Tifa saw another black coated figure outside as Garnet stood next to her looking out the window as well.

"That may be the same person as before, this one looks about the same size as the person from before, but the sounds of fighting earlier make me doubt that." Tifa observed. She was starting to get angry, if this was someone different, then the Organization was still present in Hollow Bastion, her home. She wanted answers, and she was going to get them even if it meant going into that frozen hell outside.

Pushing off the wall, Tifa made her way to the door, pushing down the throbbing pain in her body. Just like before, Garnet went and intercepted the black clad woman.

"Tifa we've been over this, you're in no condition―"

Tifa cut her off with a glare. "I want answers, and that person out there is going to give them to me whether they like it or not!" Tifa growled through gritted teeth trying to preventing herself from yelling at the girl whose actions were that of concern, but Garnet still took a step back in fear from the ferocity in Tifa's voice.

Turning away, Tifa made her way through the door, heading outside to confront the hooded figure wandering the frozen wasteland, leaving Garnet, who still had no magical energy to fight with, to watch over the two still unconscious mages.

Leaving the building Tifa spotted the coated figure walking through the remains of the residential district. She began to get as close as she could without being noticed. Do to her injuries she could not go into a head-to-head fight right now, doing her best to ignore the bitter atmosphere biting into her exposed skin, she tailed after the coated figure.

Tifa planned on getting answers one way or another.

When she was nearly fifteen feet away from the person in the black coated, Tifa was on the verge of jumping the small hooded figure, but at that moment, she heard the person speak aloud, and the voice of the person in front of her made her stop. Was that…

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

After what felt like hours, Kairi had arrived to her destination and was finally able to see the destruction caused to Hollow Bastion as she left the canyon, entering the once peaceful looking town. Now it looked like the result of a warzone that was frozen over, which is exactly what happened.

Near the center of Hollow Bastion was a massive ice crystal. Which was most likely where whatever caused this, originated from, Kairi mused, trying to piece together what events occurred in her absents. She also felt as though she was being watched but it was probably just her nerves getting to her.

Kairi continued on through the ice-covered streets of what was left of the residential district, most of the buildings were either buried in snow, or just a crater in the ground. "I hope everyone evacuated to safety before this all happened." The redheaded Keyblader thought aloud.

"Kairi?"

Jumping on the spot, Kairi summoned Oathkeeper' as she whirled around to see who spoke.

It was Tifa, who was in a stance that said she was about to pounce, and was so close to Kairi that the redhead wondered how she could have gotten so close without making a sound. I guess it wasn't my nerves after all, Kairi though back to how she felt like she was being watched.

Seeing Tifa eyeing Oathkeeper, Kairi dematerialized it and pulled down the hood of the coat she was wearing.

Tifa watch as the coated figure in front of her pulled down their hood revealing familiar red-hair, and the face of her adoptive daughter.

She immediately pounced as planned.

Kairi was suddenly being picked up and hugged fiercely by the woman in front of her. "Where have you been!?" Tifa had known that Kairi was missing in action before that business with Celsius happened, and was glad to have found her.

"Gah…Tifa…can't breathe…" Tifa released the small girl in her arms, setting Kairi back on the ground and placed her hands on the redhead's shoulders. "Where have you ―" She was going to repeat her previous question, but the dry blood that looked to have come out of Kairi's mouth and eye's made her words catch in her throat. What happened to Kairi, a burning fury filled Tifa as she looked at the redhead.

"What happened to you Kairi, why do you look like your eyes were bleeding, and coughing up blood?" Tifa needed to know what caused something like this to happen to her adoptive daughter.

Kairi's eyes widened, she had not seen her own face, so she did not know her features were covered in her own dried blood from when she was tortured by the Organization. She looked into a nearby widow for her reflection, and was shocked at what she saw.

There were trails of dried blood coming from her eye sockets, and a smudged trail leading out of her mouth.

Tifa watched as the black coated redhead looked horrified at her own reflection, brushing trembling fingers over the dried blood on her face. Tifa gave a small squeeze on Kairi's shoulders to get her attention. Looking up at Tifa, Kairi could see the concern in the black haired martial artist's eyes. Tifa would not drop this without a damn good reason.

"Tifa, I will tell you what happened along with everyone else, so please drop it for now. I rather not have to tell it more than once." Kairi said shakily, she could only hope Tifa would accept her plea with no questions asked.

Tifa wanted to argue but looking at Kairi's bloody pleading face made her hesitate, whatever could cause the usually strong willed redheaded tactician to be this shaken up was serious. "…Ok, I'll wait till we regroup with the others, but you better explain every detail."

Kairi was relieved that Tifa would not pursue the subject further. She hugged the taller woman, "Thank you."

Pulling away, Kairi bent down and picked up some snow and used it to clean the blood from her face, she almost regretted the action, feeling her face go numb from the cold snow making contact with her skin.

Tifa watched as Kairi cleaned her face of any trace of dry blood. Just what happened to cause something like that to someone? Tifa wondered.

Suddenly the martial artist remembered something rather important.

"Ahh Shit!" Kairi looked up at Tifa oddly from the unexpected outburst. "What's wrong?" The Keyblader asked finishing cleaning her face of any trace of the blood that was caked up before.

Tifa began making her way back towards the old castle she was using as a temporary shelter. Looking over her shoulder she addressed Kairi's question. "I kinda left a magicless mage to protect two unconscious mages in a nearly iced over library." Again, her reckless impulses put Aerith and the others in danger, leaving them defenseless with no one capable of fighting, although Tifa was hardly in any condition for combat.

"You left who where?" Kairi was confused about that whole statement. Just what happened while she was missing in action?

"I left Garnet to look after Aerith, and Rydia while I came out here to find out who you were." She pointed at the coat Kairi was wearing. "You really shouldn't wear that hood. I almost attacked you, ya know." Kairi pulled the hood back on; to hide the fact she was rolling her eyes, and to help keep her head warm.

"Well then we should get back to them." Kairi said following Tifa in the direction of the castle. The redhead was eager to regroup and find out what happened while she was absent during the battle. She really hated not knowing things, especially when those things involved the endangerment of those she cared about.

"So what happened to cause Hollow Bastion to end up turning into this freezing hell?" Kairi wanted to at least see if her earlier theory was accurate.

Tifa considered her answer for a moment. "As far as I know, something went wrong with some magic pact Aerith and the others did, forming some kind of blob of raw magical energy around them and attacking everything in sight." The martial artist explained, intriguing the redheaded Keyblader as she listened to Tifa explain recent events while they were nearing the castle's gates. "Weapons did nothing and magic only made it stronger, there was no way to stop that thing. Until Naminé showed up and had an idea to stop it."

Kairi was surprised to say the least to hear that Naminé was the one with the plan, although after Aerith, Rydia, and Garnet, Naminé is the most versed in the arcane arts, so it wasn't surprising that Leon would listen to whatever plan the blond mage had. Kairi and Leon were more alike than the redhead would like to admit, so they would most likely have the same thoughts under those circumstances.

Tifa's words brought Kairi out of her thoughts.

"Naminé had the idea that since that blob thing was made of raw energy then why not use it to summon something big with incantation magic. So Leon had everyone withdraw from the area while Olette helped Naminé get close to it to try and summon Celsius." Pointing at the massive ice crystal in the center of Hollow Bastion, Tifa continued. "Obviously it worked, but it went berserk and caused all of this." Tifa said gesturing to their surroundings before they finally entered the castle's interior, which was slightly warmer than the outside but not by much, and they started making their way through the labyrinth like hallways leading to the library where the others were.

Kairi had one question on her ever thinking mind. She stopped in the middle of the hallway she and Tifa were maneuvering through while removing the hood from her head, Kairi hesitantly asking her question.

"What happened to Naminé, and Olette?" She dreaded the answer, but desperately wanted to know. If Naminé and Olette were right there when Celsius was summoned then there could be only one outcome.

Stopping in front of Kairi, not meeting her gaze, Tifa answered directly like always. "They were both encased in solid ice…" Finally looking at the redhead caused Tifa to cringe at her own brutal words. Kairi's face was that of sadness, and heartache.

"But they were completely preserved, so they could still be alive." Tifa said quickly trying to reassure Kairi. "So I'm sure someone got them out of there, and brought them to safety." Her words did little to diminish the anguished feeling in the redhead's heart.

The idea of losing the two people she loved was excruciating. But Kairi knew in situations like these it was better to hope for the best, and prepare for the worst, keep a level head and persist. Tifa may be right, Leon would send out search parties to make certain that the enemy truly did withdraw from Hollow Bastion, and he would most certainly do everything in his power to save the other two Keybladers if there was a chance they could be rescued.

Taking deep breaths, Kairi began trying to calm her mind from thinking too much of 'what ifs' and tried to think of 'what is.'

Tifa watched anxiously as Kairi was visibly trying to calm down, and digest the information she had just heard, Tifa never did pull her punches, in combat or in conversations.

After Kairi regained her composer she looked at Tifa's worried expression. Taking a deep breath Kairi regarded her as calmly as she could. "We should hurry to get to Aerith and the other mages, and after we are able to move, we should regroup with Leon and what's left of Hollow Bastion's forces as soon as possible." Kairi was back in her strategist persona, cold and calculated. That is what she needed to be under these current circumstances, not some overly emotional girl who is of no use.

Seeing the resolve in Kairi's eyes, Tifa was proud to see how mature the redhead had become since the beginning of all this when she was forcefully pulled into this battle between Darkness and Light.

With a small smile, Tifa nodded. "Agreed. Come on, the library's right around this corner." Tifa said turning on the spot and continued down the hall with Kairi close on her heels.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Garnet watched as Tifa made her way through the door, not daring to speak after witnessing the ferocity Tifa emanated from that glare and statement alone.

Walking back toward the somewhat dying fire, Garnet sighed and slumped down on the pile of books next to where Aerith and Rydia were laying, then she began looking through the books to see which were unimportant works and started to rekindle the fire with the books she found to be trifles.

Once the fire was rejuvenated, Garnet just tried to stay warm while waiting for the martial artist to return from whatever endeavor she was hoping to accomplish by going outside in her condition. Garnet felt useless having to sit idly by, waiting, not knowing what was going on.

A quiet groan brought Garnet out of her thoughts, looking over to the source of the noise.

Aerith was beginning to stir from her unconsciousness. Garnet made her way to the rousing brunette sorceress and knelt down next to her as she began to regain consciousness.

Garnet watched as Aerith slowly opened her eyes looking up at the younger sorceress's face, and Garnet saw the slow recognition come into the brunette's eyes as she became more aware of her senses after being out cold, no pun intended, for so long. Aerith began to sit up and look at her surroundings with wide eyes.

Garnet let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness your awake, I was beginning to worry."

"What happened, where are we?" hand on her temples Aerith looked expectantly at Garnet as her head began throbbing, she couldn't remember much, she could remembered a massive amount of pain in her body, as if all of her magical energy was manifesting itself all at once, but after that her memories became fuzzy.

"Well… as far as I've been told…" Garnet began to tell Aerith what Tifa had told her about how she, her, and Rydia had gone on a rampage in a giant blob of raw magical energy, and when she got to the part where Naminé and Olette had chosen to stop the three sorceresses' by summoning Celsius, Aerith couldn't help but shiver, but not caused by the cold atmosphere around her, but from the idea that The Elemental King of Ice had been summoned into physical form and froze Hollow Bastion, in order to stop Aerith and the other's mages rampaging.

Was the price of stopping the three sorceresses' worth a cost like this? Aerith did not know.

"After Celsius was summoned… well you can see for yourself the power it wielded." Garnet's word brought Aerith out of her thoughts. Looking at the black haired mage, something suddenly occurred to Aerith.

"What happened to Naminé, and Olette?" If those two were right there when Celsius was summoned, then…

Garnet looked away from Aerith for a moment then met her expecting gaze, giving the brunette her answer before even a word was said.

"Tifa said that when she got the three of us out of the cold she saw what happened to Naminé, and Olette. She said they were encased in solid ice." Garnet broke her gaze with the older woman, and began to rekindle the fire as it was dying due to lack of attention, she then continued her story.

She told Aerith about the first figure in an Organization coat going through the wastelands outside, and how they heard the sounds of gunfire, and fighting that lasted less than a minute then nothing but silence, and how she nearly had to tackle Tifa to keep her from leaving to investigate the noise. Aerith laughed along with Garnet at the part about Tifa having to be forced to stay put, which evidently does not work.

Then Garnet explained how a second figure in a coat had appeared outside just moments before Aerith had woken up, and how she failed to keep Tifa from leaving that time. "And you know the rest." Garnet concluded her story as she continued to tend the fire, feeding it more books.

"Oh Tifa, I swear when I see you…" Aerith sighed, aggravated by her partner's recklessness. She would have a nice "talk" with the martial artist the next chance she could.

And at that moment, the door that led out of the library and into the hallways of the castle began to open.

Tifa opened the door to the library and stepped through the doorway only to come to a halt at what she saw in front of her in the library.

Kairi walked right into Tifa's back, having not expected the black clad woman to stop so suddenly. Looking over Tifa's shoulder, Kairi saw what had caused Tifa to stop in her tracks.

Aerith stood up on her somewhat wobbly legs and watched with a small smile as Tifa froze under her gaze, then the martial artist rushed forward the best she could with her injuries and the cold affecting her mobility, and immediately embraced Aerith and kissed her deeply, being immensely happy seeing her lover was awake and appeared, so far, all right.

Aerith wrapped her arms around Tifa, accepting her embrace and returned the fighter's kiss with equal enthusiasm, just as happy as Tifa to see that she too was safe and not wondering around outside in the now ice-covered Hollow Bastion. I guess that "talk" can wait till later, Aerith mused.

Kairi watched somewhat amused at her adoptive parent's loving interaction, but it also made her long for such embrace, and brought up her earlier worries, making her want to find Naminé and Olette as soon as possible, and make sure they too were safe.

Tifa finally broke the kiss do to the annoying fact of the need for air, but continued holding the brunette in her arms. Aerith was content to stay like that for a moment longer, happy to be in her partner's familiar warmth.

Finally, Aerith stepped out of the Tifa's embrace, and looked over the woman's shoulder, having finally noticed Kairi in the doorway watching them with a rather somber look on her face.

But what got Aerith's attention the most was what Kairi was wearing over her battle clothes that was made for her by Rydia. It was one of the coats those Organization members wore. Why was she wearing that? Aerith knew it was cold and it helped conserve heat, but where had Kairi gotten it from?

The brunette mage knew that Kairi had been missing in action before the incident with her, the other two mages and the magic blob, and was glad to see she was safe, and, for the most part, looked to be all right.

Kairi began fidgeting slightly under Aerith's gaze. She really hoped Aerith didn't ask her questions about why she was missing during the battle.

Aerith moved toward the slightly fidgeting Keyblader with her still numb legs a bit uneasily and pushing away Tifa's attempts to help her as she went to stand in front of Kairi, than she hugged the redhead fiercely.

"Thank god you're safe." Aerith chose to not ask Kairi any questions about her whereabouts. Kairi would tell them what happened when she was good and ready.

Kairi let out a silent breath she did not know she was holding, and returned the hug, feeling Aerith's somewhat warmer body envelope her.

It was a wonderful feeling to the Keyblader.

Tifa watched as Aerith hugged Kairi, then she looked over at Garnet, who was trying not to make eye contact with her. With a sigh, Tifa went to sit next to the young mage as she tended the fire.

"Hey uhh… sorry about earlier for...yah know…getting mad and all." She really wasn't big on apologizes.

Garnet smiled to herself at Tifa's poor attempt at apologizing. "I forgive you, and I understand. This is our home after all and we will protect it." Garnet said looking into the two dark red orbs that were Tifa's eyes. Tifa did what she did for the same reason she, Aerith, and Rydia made The Sorceress Pact.

She did it because she wants to protect their home, to protect Hollow Bastion.

Tifa gave Garnet a somewhat thankful look. Thank goodness that's over with; the martial artist was relieved that she didn't have to apologize anymore.

Aerith and Kairi had just walked over to the fireplace and sat down on varies piles of books. Tifa immediately sat down next to Aerith and they snuggled together, Kairi sat next to Garnet, trying to get as much heat back into her body as possible, Garnet continued to put books she found unimportant into the fire, and Rydia was still not conscious, laying on a pile of books a couple of feet away from the fireplace to stay warm but not be in any danger from the flames.

It would appear they would have to wait until Rydia finally woke up before they ventured out into the frozen wasteland that was Hollow Bastion.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Olette was relieved when Leon finally led them into one of the hidden tunnels that led to the underground Sanctuary of Hollow Bastion. She was also pleased that the temperature in the tunnels was slightly warmer than the blistering cold atmosphere of Hollow Bastion's surface.

Their party continued to follow their stoic leader through varies passageways. Do to the fact that most, if not all of them, were injured, their progress was slow going.

Olette could feel Naminé tighten her hold on her arm as they walked behind Basch and Ashe, whose men, along with Leon's, were trailing behind the two Keybladers, and the winged Ninja.

The brunette looked at the blond mage clinging to her arm; the girl was shivering from the cold still, even with the, barely, higher temperatures in the tunnels.

The duel wielding Keyblader wrapped her arm around Naminé's shoulder trying to keep her warm. The blond snuggled somewhat closer to the brunette, trying to get warm, but she knew she was not as resilient as Olette, and this cold was making her very tired.

"Come on Naminé, we're almost there. Then we can rest, I promise." Naminé's only response was a small nod into the brunette's side. Olette was worried, as always, for the witch girl, whom until just recently she considered a sister, but now Olette saw her as something more. Was that odd? About as odd as the two of them sharing the same girlfriend, although one would expect such feelings to come up if the three of them were dating.

Olette sighed.

All this was giving her a headache; she wasn't ashamed of any of it. On the contrary, she was very happy with having Naminé and Kairi together, as unexpected as the whole situation was.

This thought gave Olette the urge to go back out in that freezing hell, and continue searching for the redheaded Keyblader. The brunette was starting to get annoyed with herself; she had to make sure Naminé was somewhere safe before she ran off to do anything, especially after what occurred in the cover of darkness between her and the blond sorceress. Olette blushed a bit at the memories of that event.

Naminé could feel the anxiety in Olette as they walked. She wished she could do something to help, but she was just as worried about Kairi as Olette was. She wanted them to all be together, safe and sound, so Olette didn't have to worry. Having the presence of both the girls she loved with her, and knowing Kairi was safe was all Naminé wanted.

Yuffie watched as Olette wrapped her arm around Naminé's shivering shoulders. She felt a pang of jealousy in her heart, but pushed it down. She knew Olette saw Naminé as a sister, so she shouldn't think anything of their snuggling, something Yuffie missed doing immensely with the brute of a Keyblader. She really did miss Olette's embrace.

"Dammit!" Yuffie cursed herself so quietly that no one else noticed. It was her fault that she was on somewhat rough terms with the girl she loved. Yuffie knew that she would never be able to be with Olette like she wanted to, but she would still try to be her friend, even if Olette was with someone else.

Yuffie kept on watching Olette as Naminé clung to her. Looking at the floor of the tunnel while she walked and sighing quietly to herself, Yuffie wished to be more, but she would have to be content with just being the brunette's friend. Looking up, Yuffie had a resolved look in her eyes.

As long as Olette was happy, then Yuffie was happy too.

The group continued through the tunnels, and when they turned a corner, to everyone's relief, they finally arrived to the entrance to the Sanctuary. It was guarded by members of Hollow Bastion's militia. Upon seeing Leon, and his party, the soldiers lowered their weapons and let them pass.

The Sanctuary was huge. It was a massive dome shaped cavern full of shacks for makeshift housing, some old ruined buildings, and many campfires, with tents around each one; there were even some oil drum fires. The citizens of Hollow Bastion were scattered throughout the different housing shacks, or in some of the ruined buildings, while the most of the soldiers slept in the tents around the campfires. The ceiling was a good 200 to 300 feet tall straight up, and the walls were made of the same stone as the canyon on Hollow Bastion surface.

After entering the Sanctuary, Leon and his party were immediately swarmed by medics, and mages with some creative magic abilities.

Penelo followed after the medical personnel, and made her way towards Leon. She was relieved to see that Olette, Naminé, and Yuffie were in the group, but was slightly concerned as to why some of the men that were in Ashe's and Basch's party were missing. The former queen and her guard looked like they'd been in a recent battle, but looked like they could have been in worse condition, and Penelo also noticed that Basch seemed to be carrying something on his back.

Just what happened while they were on the surface?

Penelo located Leon in the small crowed, as those that were injured got treatment. She found Leon standing with Ashe, and Basch, who were being check on by some of the mages that were versed in little creative magic.

"Ashe, Basch are you ok? What happened up there?" The young songstress asked. They were in worse condition than when they left to scout out the surface with Leon and his party.

"We're fine Penelo, your concern is much appreciated, and as for what happened, we encountered her." Ashe answered, pointing at what Basch was carrying, Ashe still remembered the fear she felt when she fought that girl. Penelo looked to where Ashe pointed and was able to see that Basch was carrying a black haired girl, whom was wearing one of the coats those Nobodies wore. Was she from the Organization?

"She attacked us, and killed three of our men." Basch added with a grim look on his face, leaving out the fact that the girl had almost killed him, and his queen.

"She needs to be restrained until we can decide what to do with her. I'll have Cid, and Merlin use those magic reinforced steel chains they created to restrain her." Leon said gestating to the girl; apparently even Tifa has a hard time breaking them. At least that's what Aerith says. Leon mused to himself.

After getting checked over by the medics, Leon ordered one of his men to find Cid to bring him the chains to confine the girl in case she were to wake and tried to attack them.

Leon then ordered the militia to form scout units, and to prepare to recon the surface for any survivors or signs of the enemy in Hollow Bastion. He especially made sure that finding Kairi was their number one priority. If she were found, she was to be brought back to Sanctuary immediately. The same orders went for Tifa, and the three mages Aerith, Rydia, and Garnet. If Leon knew anything about Tifa, it was that she was too stubborn to give up, especially if it involved Aerith's safety.

Once his orders were given, Leon dismissed his soldiers to let them prepare for the upcoming task they were given.

Giving a heavy sigh, Leon made his way to one of the campfires closest to him and sat down, setting his gunblade across his lap. Too many unknown variables were taking place, far too many for the swordsman's liking. Who was that girl, why does she look like Kairi, and where was Kairi?

He sighed again. Leon could only hope that Kairi was ok, and if she was found then hopefully she would be able to answer some of his questions on this situation.

Then the sounds of quiet arguing pulled him out of his thoughts, and got his attention.

Looking over to another campfire, Leon saw Naminé and Olette arguing softly with each other. Leon didn't want to know why, but was still curious as to what the two Keybladers were arguing about.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

"I said you're not going and that's that!" Olette managed to say without yelling.

After Olette and Naminé were checked over by the medics and mages, they went to sit by a campfire to stay warm, and then Olette heard Leon giving orders to the militia to go out into Hollow Bastion and search for signs of the enemy, blah, blah, blah. But then what got Olette's attention the most was Leon having locating Kairi the number one priority, as was finding Tifa, Aerith, Rydia, and Garnet, but finding Kairi was her number one priority. Now that Naminé was somewhere safe, she could go look for Kairi. After Leon dismissed his men Olette jumped up to go prepare, or at least she was planning on doing. As soon as she was standing up she felt a soft hand grab her arm, and tug at her. Naminé knew what Olette wanted to do, and she wanted to find Kairi as well, and that's how this argument came about.

Naminé looked up at Olette with that determined looking in her eyes that the brunette had come to love, and dread.

"No, I'm coming with you. Why won't you let me?" Naminé wanted to find Kairi just as badly as Olette, so why won't she let her go look for Kairi too.

"I told you, it's because I don't want you to get hurt!" Olette was starting to get angry now; she was doing this to protect Naminé, so why was she fighting her over this.

"I'm not made of glass!" Naminé practically yelled, startling Olette, and getting the attention of some of those around them. "I can protect myself, I may not be as strong or as fast as you, but I can protect myself and you know it!" Naminé wasn't the same helpless naïve girl back when they first met. She was a powerful sorceress who has seen her share of destruction to lose her naïve ideals about the world.

Olette could only stare at Naminé. The normally carefree blond girl usually did what Olette asked, but now she appeared determined to do the complete opposite of what Olette wanted. But Naminé did have a point; she was a powerful sorceress, this coming from Olette, who had no magic potential whatsoever. Naminé could protect herself, plus she was probably of most powerful mage here since Aerith, Rydia, and Garnet were still missing. They would surely have need of her abilities.

Olette had to stop thinking about what she wanted, and more of what was needed. Having Naminé would probably speed up any search efforts for Kairi and for anyone else still on Hollow Bastion's surface.

Looking at Naminé's unwavering resolve, Olette gave in with a sigh.

"Ok, you're right." Olette said smiling as she knelt down beside the blond mage and started petting her head. "Besides, we'll probably need your help in the search anyway." Naminé smiled sweetly and nodded, happy about getting what she wanted, and she leaned into the other girl's comforting touch that she loved so much.

Olette didn't like it, but Naminé wouldn't take no for an answer. Olette would just have to be extra cautious when they begin their search for Kairi. She had to find her, now more than ever. After everything they've been through Olette couldn't lose her, especially after they finally admitted their feelings for each other, and now that Olette had feelings for Naminé that went passed sisterly love…well they would have to discuss that later.

But Olette worried she would not find Kairi. What if she was gone? Shut up! Don't think like that, we'll find her, and everything will be better when we're all together. Olette told herself.

Naminé saw the distressed look on the brunette's face, and became worried for her. Naminé grabbed Olette's arm again and pulled her closer, her face getting closer to Olette's.

All too late did Olette realize what Naminé was doing, until she felt soft lips meet hers. It was only a moment, but it managed to calm Olette down from all her worrying. She needed to keep a level head if she was going to be of any use in finding the redhead she loved.

Pulling away, Naminé and Olette smiled at each other.

Suddenly Olette became very aware of the fact that there were other people around, and some might have seen them kiss. Looking around with a panicked expression, Olette noticed Leon not too far away, sitting at another campfire. He seemed to be pointedly looking away from them.

Did he see us kiss, Olette was blushing a deep red, no one knew about her and Naminé. What if someone told Kairi before they could talk about what had developed between her and Naminé. Maybe Kairi would understand, after all Olette and Naminé were both dating Kairi at the same time, so wouldn't it be ok for Naminé and Olette to date each other too… Why is this always so complicated?

Naminé gave an adorable giggle at Olette's reaction to possible onlookers. Naminé didn't much care, it's not wrong to love two people, so why be embarrassed about showing your affection for them, although Naminé's views on love were slightly different compared to most people.

Olette could only blush and look away from the giggling blond in front of her. She really wished she was as carefree as Naminé sometimes.

"It's not funny…" The brunette pouted, crossing her arms over her chest, still not looking at Naminé. Holding in her giggles, Naminé looked at Olette with a grin that she learned by watching Aerith, then she pulled Olette into a hug, and the brunette's resistance melted away.

Olette finally gave in and looked at Naminé, who was snuggling into her side as she hugged her. With a sigh, Olette smiled fondly at the blond girl in front of her and began petting her head again before returning the hug.

"Come on, we should go prepare before going out into that icy hell to find Kairi." Olette wanted to make sure she and Naminé were at least wearing something that would conserve their body heat; she could still feel the bitterness of when she and Naminé were encased in Celsius' ice.

"And when we find Kairi, what do you say we give her a good scolding for leaving us to worry." Olette said looking at Naminé, who giggled again, and grinned that evil grin she inherited from Aerith.

"Yeah, we'll scold her till she promises to never wonder off again." Naminé answered, still grinning evilly, she really was taking after Aerith more and more, much like Olette was taking after Tifa.

No matter how much she denied it, Olette acted more like the martial artist the longer she trained under her.

Olette could only smile at her blond partner, and petted her head again out of habit. Naminé could be scary when she wanted to be, but Olette found it adorable when Naminé felt like being mischievous, and decided to tease someone.

Not wanting to, but having to, Olette let Naminé go and stood up, feeling the somewhat colder atmosphere cling to her. Olette hadn't noticed the cold much since she was…snuggling with Naminé most of this time. That thought made Olette blush again. Dammit, get a grip! The brunette thought to herself while shaking her head.

After a moment of letting her blush subside, Olette held out her hand for Naminé, and without question the blond mage took it and was pulled up to stand next to the duel wielding Keyblader. Naminé did however give Olette a curious look with a tilt of her head to one side.

"Let's go find some winter clothes so we don't freeze to death while we search for Kairi." Olette answered to Naminé's adorable unasked head tilted question.

Naminé looked down at her clothes.

Olette was right, if they were going out onto Hollow Bastion's surface; they were going to need winter wear to help protect them from the now freezing elements. Naminé's dress wouldn't do much to fend off the cold, and she could already feel her body getting colder do to the absence of Olette's body heat. The fire helped, but didn't do much to fend off the chilling atmosphere that now presided over Hollow Bastion.

Looking back at Olette, Naminé gave the brunette a nod, then Naminé wrapped her arms around the brunette's arm, trying to steal as much body heat as possible.

After a moment to regain her footing from Naminé's expected action, Olette looked around for Leon who was no longer sitting by the campfire he was previously at. It took a moment of looking around, but Olette spotted Leon with Cid, Merlin, Yuffie, Basch, Ashe and some militiamen standing by a lit oil drum fire next to the cavern wall.

They appeared to be restraining the girl that looked like Kairi with those chains Cid made with Merlin's help. They were chaining the girl to the cavern walls behind her, and the cavern floor in front of her, the girls arms were crossed over her chest with her hands on her shoulders with chains holding them in place while the chains led into the wall behind her, and her legs were chained down to the ground with magic reinforced steel weights; all in all, preventing the girl from making any threatening moves, and stopping any escape attempts.

Olette walked over with Naminé practically clinging to her; she suspected that Naminé was trying to steal her body heat. This thought brought a smirk to the brunette's face.

"You know, it's not very nice to steal other people's body heat Naminé." Still smirking, Olette looked at the blond, whom persisted to cling to her arm.

"But it's cold." Naminé pouted, causing the brunette to snigger.

As they approached the group, Olette saw that Leon was now checking the restraints on the girl's arms, and legs. Appearing satisfied, Leon took a step back from the black-haired girl, who had her head to her chest, still being unconscious.

Every time Olette laid eyes on that girl she immediately thought of Kairi. Why did this girl appear, was this battle supposed to be the battle that led to the 'Bloodstained Hollow Incident'? Had they prevented that future from ever happening? The outcome of this battle was immensely different, although instead of a burning desert wasteland, it was a frozen wasteland. But everyone was alive in this world…or at least Olette hoped everyone was alive. Shaking her head to remove such thoughts, Olette made her way to Leon in the small group of people that gathered to see the "prisoner."

After a bit of pushing, Olette and Naminé were standing behind Leon, who was in the middle of talking to Ashe, Basch, and Yuffie.

"…and I want you and Basch to lead the other recon unit through the residential district." Olette heard Leon halfway through his orders, as he addressed the former Queen and her protector. Giving Leon an affirmative nod, Ashe noticed Olette and Naminé, who both looked quite anxious, standing behind him. "Leon, you seem to have two very anxious girls standing behind you." Ashe said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Now that that mysterious girl was subdued, Ashe felt a bit more at ease.

Turning around, Leon saw who Ashe was talking about. Olette and Naminé both looked expectantly at him. With his trademark sigh, Leon spoke. "I suppose you both want orders to recon the surface as well." It was more of a statement, rather than a question.

Nevertheless, they both nodded. Olette and Naminé both had determined looks on their faces. No way were they going to listen to an order that has them staying put. Leon knew this, so why waste time arguing, when he could just give them authorization to do what they would inevitability do anyway, with or without his orders.

These thoughts caused the swordsman to sigh again, causing some of those around him to laugh quietly, this included Basch, Yuffie, and Cid.

"Ok, since I can't prevent you otherwise, Olette, you and Naminé will go with Ashe, and her unit to the residential distract, in the area where you found this girl." Leon said pointing at the chain covered girl in front of him.

He continued his orders. "You two will help search the area for any sign of the enemy and for any signs of Kairi, Tifa, Aerith, Rydia, Garnet, and any other survivors" Leon knew he didn't have to tell them that locating Kairi, Tifa and the other mages was their number one priority, they would undoubtedly be looking for any sign of Kairi and the others while they are on the surface, Kairi especially.

"Those are you mission parameters. Now I suggest you both go find some better clothes before you head out. There should be some spare coats and boots in that warehouse over there." Leon pointed to the warehouse in question.

"Why didn't you tell me, I've been freezing my wings off over here y'know!" Yuffie pouted beside Leon, crossing her arms over her chest, and shaking her wings a bit for emphasis.

With a small laugh, Leon turned to the pouting ninja. "I've been meaning to ask you about those actually."

Losing interest in their conversation, Olette led Naminé over to the warehouse that Leon had pointed out. Naminé was still clinging to Olette's arm, but a bit less out of pilfering her warmth and more out of comfort.

Upon entering the warehouse, Olette noticed there was a fairly large amount of clothes stored up. No doubt Leon had stockpiled as much supplies and gear as he could for just such an emergency for Hollow Bastion.

The warehouse wasn't that old looking, but the wooden floors creaked under the two girls' feet as they walked around. There were racks of coats on one side of the large room, while the other side of the room had tables with folded piles of clothes on them, and there were also some mirrors randomly placed against the walls throughout the warehouse.

Once Naminé and Olette took in the sight of the large assortment of clothes, they started to look through them for something that fit them, and conserved their body heat.

While looking through a rack of coats for one that fit, Olette noticed that Naminé was in the corner of the warehouse, but what got Olette's attention most was the fact that the blond mage was beginning to undress.

Olette's face went from her normal pigment, to tomato red in an instant.

"Wh-wh-what are you doing?" Naminé was in the middle of removing the bodice of her dress.

Naminé looked up at Olette innocently. "I'm changing my clothes." She answered simply, giving Olette a puzzled expression, as if Olette was the one doing something odd, missing the situation entirely.

Looking away, Olette's blush deepened. "I see that, but why are you doing it right now?" Olette refused to look at Naminé.

"Because its cold and this dress isn't doing much to helping conserve my body heat. I need pants." Naminé said as she continued to remove her dress, shivering as the cold atmosphere bite into her skin.

Still blushing slightly, Olette turned her attention back to the coat rack she had been inspecting before, and continued to look for winter wear for herself. Leave it to Naminé to do something like this; it's a good thing no one else was in the building.

After a few minutes of looking, Olette decided on a brown trench coat that went down to her ankles, along with a black skullcap to cover her ears, and a pair of black leather gloves.

After a moment of looking herself over in the reflection of one of the mirrors against the wall, adjusting the eyepatch she wore, Olette hoped Naminé was done changing, and reluctantly looked over at the blond sorceress. Thankfully, Naminé was fully dressed, and was examining herself in the mirror.

Naminé was now wearing a white winter coat that went down slightly past her hips; a white scarf was wrapped around her neck and shoulders, along with a white skullcap covered in little pink flowers for her ears, white leather gloves for her hands, and a pair of white pants with her half-boots still on.

Olette thought the pants looked rather odd on the typically dress wearing girl, but the outfit looked good on Naminé, especially the all-white, and the flower covered skullcap brought a smirk to Olette's face, the outfit suited the blond girl perfectly.

"Do you think our clothes are still at the house?" Naminé asked out of the blue, still looking at her reflection in the mirror.

Walking up behind Naminé, Olette smiled fondly at the random, straightforwardness the blond mage had, it was adorable.

"I don't know, I guess if we can, we should go check and see if the house is still intact." Olette had no idea if the house they called home was still standing, since she and Naminé were going with Ashe into the residential distract, then maybe they could check on it if they're in the area.

"Then we should go meet the others, and head out as soon as possible" Naminé was determined, she would find Kairi, and then all three of them would be together again.

Seeing the determined look in Naminé's eyes, Olette reached out and turned the blond girl around and pulled her into her embrace, hugging Naminé.

They both had a resolve to find the girl they love; there was no way they would fail. Pulling back, Olette looked at Naminé. Olette didn't know she was leaning forward until she instinctively closed her eyes, and felt Naminé's soft lips meet hers.

The kiss was only a few seconds, but they both felt each other's worries, and anxieties.

Pulling apart, Olette and Naminé looked at each other once more, both with unwavering determination in their eyes. With a nod, Olette turned to the door and made her way to it, with Naminé on her heels.

Upon exiting the warehouse, Olette and Naminé saw where Ashe and Basch were gathering their men, and they made their way over to them.

Seeing Naminé and Olette approach, Ashe addressed them. "Are you two ready to go?"

"Yes" They both said with a nod.

"Good." Ashe turned to her men. "Move out, and be ready for anything on the surface." She ordered, taking point with Basch at her side, as they led their troop through the tunnels that led to the surface of Hollow Bastion.

Naminé and Olette were right behind Ashe and Basch.

Olette looked sideways at Naminé; she still had that gleam in her eyes. Looking forward again, Olette felt a surge of determination flood her being.

They would find Kairi, they would be together again. With these thoughts in mind, Olette continued to follow Ashe to the surface, fully intent on finding the girl she loved.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Kairi was looking out the window of the library, watching the snow fall over Hollow Bastion, and watching for any signs of rescue, or enemies.

"No…no…"

The sounds of whimpering from Rydia, got every once attention.

Everyone looked over to where the green haired sorceress was laying by Tifa and Aerith in front of the fireplace. She appeared to be having a nightmare.

Tifa leaned over toward the woman, to check on her. Rydia was still whimpering in her unconsciousness.

"No…no…don't…"

"Is she okay?" Aerith asked, looking over Tifa's shoulder.

"I don't know. She must be having a bad dream." Tifa placed her hand on the green haired woman's forehead. What could possible cause Rydia to have such nightmares? Tifa wondered.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Rydia was having a nightmare. Her dream had started out so nice; she was over at Aerith's house learning how to cook, Aerith was an amazing chief, but when Aerith went to get some missing ingredients down at the market distract, leaving Rydia alone in the house, things turned into a nightmare.

While Rydia was stirring the dish she and Aerith were working on she felt two large hands grope her chest from behind. Jumping away and screaming, Rydia turned around and found Tifa standing behind her, with a smirk on her face.

"My, my, what a lovely smell, mind if I get a taste." Tifa said raking a hungry gaze over Rydia's body and taking a step towards the frightened woman. In a panic Rydia ran for the door, but Tifa was too fast and grabbed Rydia's arms, and pinned her to the wall.

No, this can't be happening, Rydia though to herself as she struggled against the martial artist.

"Oh come on. You know you want to try it Rydia." Tifa said seductively, leaning closer and closer to the mage's face.

NO! NO! NO! NO!

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Rydia jolted awake, surprising Tifa, and looking around franticly, as though expecting to be attacked.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tifa asked concerned, as she leaning closer to the alarmed looking woman.

Rydia's eyes landed on Tifa, and the look of absolute horror came onto the mage's face as she saw who was looming over her.

"No…NO!" Rydia yelled covering her chest with her arms and turning away from Tifa in a protective ball.

This startled the martial artist, along with everyone present, all of them watching with wide eyes. Tifa backed away from Rydia, whom was whimpering something about not wanting to try anything; Tifa had a bad feeling that the nightmare Rydia just came out of had something to do with her, and her previous teasing's of the green haired sorceress.

Tifa's bad feeling only got worse when she met Aerith's angry gaze. "I didn't do anything!" the black clad woman said holding up her hands.

Aerith just sighed, "This is undoubtedly your fault Tifa Lockheart. If it wasn't for all your flirting, then maybe Rydia wouldn't fear for her life when she was around you." Aerith scolded as she approached the terrified woman in front of her, whilst Tifa backed further away, and while Garnet and Kairi watched the drama unfold with suppressed amusement. If Tifa saw them laugh at her, they would surely be in more danger.

Tifa's face burned from embarrassment as Aerith tried to calm Rydia down, all the while throwing burning glares over her shoulder to the martial artist.

What did she do to deserve such treatment? Nothing, nothing at all, but here she was, being glared at by the woman she loves, all because she, apparently, went too far when it came to teasing people.

It was just a joke for crying out loud! This whole situation seriously pissed Tifa off. Still blushing, Tifa sat down by the fire, pouting to herself.

"Calm down, it was just a nightmare. Don't worry your safe." Aerith said gently, trying to coax Rydia into unwinding herself from her trembling protective ball.

After a moment of letting her fear subside, Rydia calmed down enough to think rationally, and sat up and looked at her surroundings. What was going on, why was she laying on a pile of books in the castle library, and why did it look like it was winter outside in Hollow Bastion?

Rydia saw that Garnet and Kairi were also in the room, along with Tifa, and Aerith, they were all looking at her, with concern in their eyes, bar Tifa, who tried to look anywhere but at Rydia, which was perfectly fine with the green haired woman. But Rydia was confused, hadn't she, Aerith, and Garnet been resting at the makeshift base that was not far from where they currently were now? Rydia remembered a surge of pain in her sleep, along with the feeling of her magic being sucked out of her almost entirely. What had happened while she was unconscious?

Aerith saw the puzzled look on Rydia's face; Aerith understood the green haired woman's confusion, after all, not two hours ago had she learned what had happened to caused Hollow Bastion to be frozen over.

With a bleak expression, Aerith began to tell Rydia what had occurred while they were unaware of their bodies' actions, this included the blob of magical energy, and the last ditch effort to stop them by having Naminé summon Celsius.

Kairi watched intently from where she stood over by the window. Every time she heard this story being told, her thoughts went astray and landed on the worry she felt for Naminé and Olette's well-being. Shaking her head, Kairi pushed her worry from her mind. She would find them. Once she regrouped with Leon, and the rest of Hollow Bastion's forces, she would find them.

Kairi sighed, and went back to looking out into the now frozen world that was her home. That's when she saw the figures walking throughout the white environment of Hollow Bastion.

A jolt of adrenaline shot through the redheaded Keyblader as she summoned Oathkeeper, and ducked down by the window.

"What's wrong?" Tifa said jumping to her feet, looking alarmed. Aerith, Rydia, and Garnet stood as well, looking just as anxious as Tifa.

"I think there are people out there." Kairi peeked out the window to see the figures more clearly. She saw that there were indeed people outside; the redhead saw that they were members of Hollow Bastion's militia, along with…

Kairi felt a surge of relief and joy as she saw more clearly who were at the head of the militiamen.

Ashe and Basch seemed to be the ones leading the expedition of soldiers through Hollow Bastion, but what got Kairi's attention most were the two people trailing behind the queen and her guard.

Naminé and Olette, both wearing winter attire, followed after Ashe and Basch, every now and then they would glance up at random buildings, most likely searching for signs of life. They were clearly a search and rescue unit.

"It's Ashe's unit from the Sanctuary, and Naminé and Olette are with them." Kairi informed, with a grin, as Tifa came up to the window to see for herself, as did the rest of room's occupants.

"Pff, about damn time." Tifa said, then stuck her head further out the window. Kairi heard the black clad woman inhale deeply.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" Tifa yelled while waving her arms to get the attention of those outside.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

"HEY! OVER HERE!" A female voice shouted out through the freezing silence.

Olette and Naminé instantly had their Keyblade's ready. Looking at were the shout came from, to Olette's relief, she saw her teacher, Tifa waving her arms franticly, getting their attention.

"You men continue searching the area." Ashe ordered her men as she made her way straight towards the castle entrance, "Basch, to my side." With that, her shadow, Basch, followed at her heels, and directly behind him were Naminé and Olette, who both had dematerialized their Keyblades, as they followed after Ashe and Basch.

If Tifa was here, then Aerith and the other mages should be here as well. They were priority targets, but Olette still wanted to continue looking for Kairi, although she was happy to know that Tifa was alive, and well enough to yell like she did.

She and Naminé followed Ashe and Basch through the many corridors of the castle, making their way to where Tifa had called, more like yelled, to them from, she appeared to be held up in the castle's library.

Olette and Naminé continued to follow Ashe and Basch. Once they got Tifa and whoever else was with her to safety, Olette vowed to search for Kairi relentlessly until the redheaded Keyblader was found. Olette would find her, and she, Naminé, and Kairi would be together again.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

With a smirk on her face, Tifa stepped away from the window, and the sounds of Ashe giving orders could be heard from outside.

"That got their attention." Her smirk faltered a bit at Aerith rolling her eyes. The yelling was not necessary and Tifa knew it. But nevertheless, rescue had arrived and hopefully they would soon be somewhere safer than this ice-covered castle in the middle of a frozen wasteland.

Kairi, somewhat amused, shook her head at Tifa's straightforward actions, and dematerialized her Keyblade.

"They should be here in a few minutes, let's put that fire out, and get ready to move. It's still freezing out there, so hopefully Ashe or Basch brought some coats for you four." Kairi was still in her leader mode, and was going all out. It felt a bit odd to her as she was talking to Aerith and Tifa like that, but they all agreed. They began putting the fire out, and bracing themselves for the colder atmosphere outside.

Aerith looked at Kairi, smiling fondly, she was proud to see the young woman her adoptive daughter was becoming; Kairi was not the same unbelieving, un-accepting girl back when Leon and the others had found her. Kairi was a warrior now, hardened by all the hardships she had endured throughout her crusade against Darkness.

Aerith was happy that Kairi found someone to love, maybe even two, judging by how the three Keybladers acted toward each other before they went on their latest mission. Kairi deserved to find someone to love; she's done so much for them since she met them back in Traverse Town. If anyone has earned such affection, it's Kairi.

Kairi noticed Aerith looking at her with a kind of dreamy expression, and when their eyes met Aerith just smiled sweetly at the redhead. What was that about? Kairi was puzzled by the interaction just now.

Once the fireplace was put out by throwing clumps of snow into it from a pile that had built up by one of the broken windows, Kairi and the others waited for whoever was coming for them.

To Kairi, time felt so slow, she was feeling anxious to see Olette and Naminé, they would undoubtedly be making their way up to them, and they would certainly have questions for her regarding her whereabouts during the battle. Kairi could only hope that they would understand, like Tifa did, that she didn't want to have to tell the story of what happened to her twice.

Kairi took a deep breath to calm her nerves, as well as her mind. For now, all she could do was wait and see who was coming up to get them, for all she knew, Olette and Naminé could still be outside searching the surrounding area, but she would know soon enough.

There was an odd sort of tension in the room. Tifa was standing next to Aerith, tapping her foot impatiently with her arms crossed over her chest, while Aerith just looking at her with a somewhat amused expression. Rydia was sitting next to Garnet on the stack of books that Garnet made earlier; they seemed to be discussing what could have caused the blob of magical energy to manifest itself.

Now that the fire was out, the library was much colder. Kairi, somewhat hesitantly, pulled the hood of the coat she wore up over her head. This was probably a bad idea, she mused to herself, but it was too cold and she needed the warmth.

Kairi kept her eyes on the library door, watching it intently, listening for any signs of someone approaching the door.

Sure enough, after a few minutes passed the sounds of footsteps could be heard, gradually getting louder and louder, then when they sounded like they were just outside the library door, the footsteps stopped. Barely a moment passed when the door was pushed open.

Ashe pushed open the door to the library and stopped dead at what she saw, her face became pale. There in front of her was a hooded figure wearing an Organization coat.

Basch saw the figure as well and readied his spear, prepared to protect his queen. This couldn't be the same girl as before, there was no way she could have escaped from the Sanctuary, at least not without them noticing. They would have heard the sounds of battle.

Upon seeing the hooded figure in the room from over Ashe and Basch's shoulders, Olette stepped in front of Naminé protectively, as both of them summoning their Keyblades, ready for any confrontation.

Yep, probably should have left the hood down, Kairi thought to herself after seeing those in the doorway prepare to attack at even the smallest sign of aggression.

"Wh…who are―" Ashe began to ask, but the hooded figure interrupted her.

"Sorry, sorry, it's me." Kairi said as she reached up and began to pull the hood off her head.

Naminé and Olette watched, stunned, as the hooded figure pulled the hood of their coat down, revealing familiar red-hair, and the face of the girl they both loved.

Naminé's eyes filled with tears as she shouted. "Kairi!" Surprising everyone in the room, she pushed past Ashe and Basch; dropping her Keyblade as she ran into Kairi, hugging her fiercely, while crying into her shoulder. Kairi was here, she was safe.

Kairi was caught off guard as Naminé wrapped her arms around her. But after a moment, Kairi returned the crying girl's embrace, smiling slightly at the blond girl in her arms. Naminé kept repeating Kairi's name over and over again. Showing how worried she had been while Kairi was missing.

Olette just stared at Kairi. After all the resolve she had built up to find Kairi, here she was.

Kairi noticed Olette starring at her from behind Ashe and Basch, who both seemed to be losing their earlier tension from seeing Kairi with that hood up.

Kairi motioned for Olette to come over to her and Naminé, whose crying had subsided into small sniffles and slightly trembling shoulders, Olette noticed the redhead's 'come here' gesture, and dematerialized her Keyblades before she started walking toward Kairi and Naminé. Olette hadn't noticed that she had begun to slightly run toward Kairi and Naminé until she was hugging Kairi from her other shoulder.

Olette could feel warm tears rolling down her cheeks as she began to silently cry into Kairi's other shoulder. They had found her, they had found Kairi, and she was safe.

Tifa and Aerith watched as Naminé and Olette clung to Kairi, both crying on different levels. Tifa looked at Aerith; the brunette had a soft smile on her face as she watched the three girl's reunion. Looking back at said girls, Tifa had a smile of her own on her face, she was glad to see the three girls she considered family were together and out of harm's way, at least for now.

Kairi held both Naminé and Olette in her arms as they clung to her for dear life, as if fearing she might disappear again if they let go of her. Kairi could feel her own tears rolling down her cheeks, but like Naminé and Olette's, they were tears of relief, tears of joy at finding those she loved safe, and tears of her fading worries.

Looking at the two girls in front of her, Kairi smiled; despite all the things that have happened to her in the past several hours, all the fighting, all the death, even her own death. But Kairi smiled with tears of joy in her eyes, still looking at the two girls holding her.

They were alive, and they were reunited again.

End of Chapter I

 **A/N**

Again, your feedback is very much wanted, and appreciated. Thank you for reading.


	3. Light in the Darkness – Awakening

**A/N**

Second chapter…sorry it's been a while. I just started Boot Camp right after I finished Chapter 1. So I apologize for this taking so very long; so without further ado, my second instalment of Valiant Hearts III.

 **Valiant Hearts III  
**

 **Chapter 2**

Light in the Darkness – Awakening

An empty void filled with darkness… slivers of light seeped through the shadows. The Girl's consciousness drifted throughout the darkness of her mind.

Was this a dream? She didn't know, what was there for here to dream of. The only memories that she could recall were those of her waking in that snow covered world and… defending herself?, is that the correct term to use. Or was fighting a more suitable term for what she remembered. Her mind told her she was being threatened, so the obvious response was to eliminate the threat.

That's what her instincts told her to do, to defend herself from any threat… So why did she have a feeling of… deep regret, as if she did something horrible. Why was she feeling it now, she's felt nothing up until now.

During that whole battle with that man and woman, the Girl felt nothing. No pain, no anger, no remorse; her instincts were all that led her in that fight. Yet now the girl felt wrong. Why now? What changed in the unfilled darkness that was her mind?

All of a sudden the slivers of light that drifted lazily throughout the Girl's consciousness began to descend more rapidly into the darkness, as if reacting to a change in her mind. She had noticed the small fragments of light before, but didn't pay them any mind until now.

They fell, the Girl thought, much like the snowfall from that world she first awoke in, Hollow Bastion…

What?

Was that the name of that snow covered world she was in? How did the information come to present itself from the depths of her empty mind? As far as she knew, she could only name the most common, or basic of objects in the world around her, but a specific name for a particular place…where was that information coming from.

Suddenly, the Girl realized that the shards of light that were drifting around here had to be coming from somewhere. Their presence didn't seem natural to the Girl's consciousness.

She instantly found the source of these fragments of light, looking up into the depth of her mind she saw; there at the very edge of her mind was a large body of light, just barely touching her mind. The slivers of light continuously fell from the mass of light…Like snowfall. The Girl mused.

Curiously, the Girl's consciousness reached out to the closest shard of falling light.

Immediately upon contact, the Girl's mind flashed with images of three women; a redheaded warrior, a powerful blond sorceress, and a brutal dual-wielding brunette.

The three women stood in a corridor surrounded by beings of Darkness, creatures that craved destruction and hearts. They were the Heartless, and the three women were about to be overwhelmed by these corrupt beings.

Flashes of light emanated from the center of the mass of shadows. The three women struck out at the Darkness and fought back wielding weapons of light to combat the darkness, Keyblades. A weapon the Heartless both fear and desire.

Withdrawing herself form the fragment of light, the Girl reflected on one more piece of information that confused her.

Another piece of information she knew, but had no memory of how she obtained such specific knowledge.

Why did she have this understanding of light and darkness? She had never been taught anything, so why did she know such detailed material of the subject.

The Girl searched her mind for the source of this information that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

All she saw was the usual empty dark void, and the streaks of the falling pieces of light… that continued to fall without stopping. Where those fragments of light going? There was nowhere to go in her mind… unless they weren't going anywhere at all, what if all the falling shard of light that already pasted were still in her mind, each containing a small piece of information?

Looking to the very depth of her mind to where the fragments of light fell towards, she saw the only thing that continued to change in her mind. She found a small, if not non-existent, puddle of light that continued to grow as more slivers of light fell in to join the pooling knowledge and memory, filling not even a fraction of her mind with light.

This must be the source of her new found knowledge she was obtaining. Each shard of light contained a memory or some kind of information…but from where though? Whose knowledge and memories was her mind being filled with?

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Kairi had a headache.

For obvious reasons, the young redhead would have multiple side effects from all the constraining ordeals that have occurred throughout the day, but this headache felt… different, like something was tugging at the edge of her mind.

That or maybe it was just the stress of having to tell the two girls walking on either side of her that she died while she was missing.

Looking at her situation now, Kairi was starting to fear telling Olette, Naminé, and everybody else about her death. She knew this information could have server effects on everyone. But she knew that withholding this information would most likely cause more problems than it would solve.

What should I Do? Kairi thought distressed to herself.

After her group had been located then after her reunion with Naminé and Olette; Tifa, Aerith, Garnet, and Rydia changed into winter attire that Ashe and her unit brought with them while Kairi kept the Organization coat on since it kept her warm with no issue, plus she didn't want to expose herself to the freezing atmosphere around her; and while Ashe sent out a messenger to report to Leon about their findings, Kairi stood off to the side with Naminé and Olette while the brawler and mages changed.

Naminé stood on one side of the redhead, sniffling ever now and then, firmly holding onto Kairi's arm, as if she feared Kairi would disappear if she were to let go of her; while Olette was content with laying her head on Kairi's shoulder. She was so relieved that they had found Kairi so quickly that just being next to the girl she loved managed to melt away all the stress and worry she had not five minute ago.

Once Tifa and the mages had finished donning their newly provided winter wear, Ashe gathered the rest of her unit and began to escort them back to Sanctuary. She took the lead with Basch at her side, Tifa and Aerith followed after them with Kairi, Naminé, and Olette behind them, and Garnet and Rydia at the rear; all the while being surrounded by Ashe's men.

The former queen was thankful that she was able to find those that they were ordered to find so quickly and without any conflict, now it was all a matter of getting them to Sanctuary.

At the time Kairi was overjoyed, being alive and with the ones she loved after being brought back from that alternate world and the Darkness; but now…

Regarding the snow covered remains that were Hollow Bastion, and the faces of those in her group, the redhead began to run possible scenarios in her head on possible outcomes of telling everyone she had died.

Looking at Tifa and Aerith, whom were now wearing winter attire; Tifa wearing a black leather trench coat with a bottom that went down around her ankles, grey leather gloves and a black skullcap, while Aerith wore a light pink winter coat that went down around her waist, thick white leather gloves, and a pink winter cap with white lilies on it. Aerith clung to Tifa's arm with her head on the brawler's shoulder while Tifa had her head leaning onto the top of Aerith's as they walked with the rest of the group.

They, like Naminé and Olette, were the ones that she feared telling the most about what happened to her. Kairi knew how protective Aerith and Tifa were, Tifa more so.

She would have a stroke if she knew what happened to me, Kairi thought to herself as she considered what to do.

She was running out of time, her group that was being led by Ashe and Basch would find an underground entrance sooner or later, then there was no telling how long it will take to arrive at Sanctuary and most likely be asked multiple questions from…well everyone, and considering the situation, Leon won't be the only one trying to get every little detail of her absence in his "Death by Debrief".

Yeah, like that would help my headache at all, Jeez. Kairi mused to herself as her head continued to have that aching feeling like something was pulling at her consciousness.

But a more important matter that concerned her was that everybody will want to know everything that happened to her while she was MIA. So it all comes down to what Kairi tells them… the truth that could destroy them, or a lie that would betray them.

Kairi would have to decide what to do before they made it to Sanctuary.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Leon was in one of the more stable buildings in the underground shelter that served as the temporary HQ of the Hollow Bastion Militia when a messenger that he recognized from Ashe's party came in with word on Ashe's expedition into the frozen hell that was now Hollow Bastion.

Straightening up from the map of Hollow Bastion he was looking over, Leon addressed the messenger.

"Report" He was eager to learn what Ashe and her unit had found so soon, for any news important enough to send an individual messenger back rather than waiting until they returned and were debriefed. This courier must have urgent news that Ashe wanted reported back immediately, now weather the news was good or bad was the new question Leon had on his mind.

"Sir," The messenger gave a slight bow, showing this man had some formal training, which Leon had come to expected from Ashe's men. "News from Her Majesty, priority personnel Tifa, Aerith, Rydia, and Garnet have been located and are on root to Sanctuary."

These words took a massive amount of weight off Leon's shoulders, but he gave no outwardly expression that the news affected him; he kept his usual stoic face in front of the messenger as he continued his report.

"Along with those key members, and this piece of information, Her Majesty said, would interest you the most, we found the missing Keyblader Kairi in the Castle with them, she's alive and on root with the rest of the scout unit Her Majesty is in command of."

Now this was the new Leon had wanted to hear.

"What was Ashe's estimated time of arrival?" Leon questioned the former Rabanastre soldier.

"At the time before I was sent out, her ETA was 30 to 40 minutes sir." The soldier stated briefly.

This was everything Leon hoped for. Not only had Tifa, Aerith, Rydia, and Garnet been found, Kairi as well. Even after so many failures and losses, they had managed to survive. Leon was relieved at the new he had just received; now it was only a matter of time until everyone he promised himself he'd protect would be back together.

This Hollow Bastion would not end up like the Hollow Bastion that the Kairi and her group had traveled to during the "Blood Stained Hollow" incident. Leon would make certain of that.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Kairi was seriously starting to panic now.

Ashe had led the group into one of the hidden underground entrances that led into the labyrinth like system that was under Hollow Bastion. A place Leon dubbed Old Hollow Bastion, now they were traversing one of the many different tunnels, making left and right turns at different intersections, undoubtedly getting closer and closer to Sanctuary.

Kairi was running out of time, and all she had managed to accomplish while they made their way through the snow covered streets of Hollow Bastion was effectively arguing with herself in circles on what to do. Giving reasons to withhold the information about her death, only to come up with a counter reason as to why she should tell them what happened to her.

Gah! this whole situation was a pain. Kairi thought irritated to herself.

Frustrated, Kairi tried her best not to show her inner struggles, but she could feel both Naminé and Olette's gaze on her, both looking concerned. They no doubt had questions, but refrained from asking them, and for that, Kairi was thankful for their restraint.

But Kairi knew that once they had regrouped at Sanctuary and as soon as Leon got everyone together, he'd have one of his "day long debriefs" even if everyone was exhausted and tired, it didn't matter to Leon, not when it was on the whereabouts of someone as important as a Keyblader during an assault on their home.

Kairi shivered at the prospect of having everyone's upmost attention bearing down on her during one of Leon's dreaded debriefs.

Damn it! What should I do? Kairi mentally struggled with herself on what to do.

Naminé could feel Kairi's distress as she held on to the redheads arm, she had no idea what could be causing such turmoil to the normally level-headed Keyblader, and so whatever was causing it must be very serious.

If only Naminé could simply take away whatever troubled Kairi, but all she could do right now was wait until they were alone and ask her what was bothering her and hopefully help get rid of whatever was on her mind that was troubling her so much.

The blond also had questions of her own to ask but she had the feeling that asking them here, around all these other people, would only cause Kairi more distress. Naminé didn't know why she had this kind of feeling, but something just told her that asking any questions would cause a more negative affect rather than a positive one.

For now, all she could do was wait, and stay by Kairi's side.

Olette on the other hand was chewing at the bit as she watch Kairi mental struggled with herself; she desperately wanted to ask Kairi what had happened to her. The brunette still had those horrific images of those that died in that explosion Luxord, Olette presumed, had caused burned into her memory; an explosion that may have been orchestrated to capture Kairi.

If that's true, if Kairi was captured by the Organization… then what happened, did she manage to escape on her own, why was she wearing one of the Organization's coats, just what happened to her? These were the questions that Olette wanted answered, and if that explosion initiated by Luxord _was_ originally meant to capture Kairi… and Olette had the opportunity to prevent that explosion from ever occurring…

Then when she saw Luxord in the sky that time before the explosion, looking so pleased with himself. She should have found a way to engage him rather than ignore him the way she did; then maybe those people would be alive, than maybe Kairi wouldn't be so distressed.

Dammit! Why did I ignore that bastard!? I should have wiped that damn smirk off his stupid face. Along with his head. Olette chided herself.

She could have made a difference, she could have saved lives simply by engaging and forcing Luxord to withdraw from the area; but no, she ignored him, and in doing so condemning those that were caught in that explosion to death, and possibly causing harm to Kairi.

As always, Olette was jumping to conclusions; she needed to calm down; she was letting her mind run wild and blaming herself for things she may be totally wrong about. The dual-wielder needed to wait and ask Kairi what happened and find out for sure what actually happened rather than assume anything; this was a habit Olette needed to break.

On the other side of Kairi, Naminé saw that Olette seemed troubled by something as well as their redheaded lover.

What could be bothering her? The blond mage wondered as she watched the two girl's she loved struggle with their inner self's.

Naminé was beginning to worry more and more as they continued through the tunnels of Old Hollow Bastion. Both Kairi and Olette were at their limit, they all were; but Naminé knew them well enough to deduce what they were most likely thinking.

She knew Olette was, presumably, thinking about every way she could have done something different to change some kind of outcome to a situation she had experienced during the battle. To what situation the brunette experienced, Naminé could only guess at, but she was almost certain that that was what was going through Olette's mind.

As for Kairi… there was no way of Naminé knowing what happened to the redheaded Keyblader aside from the fact that she is wearing an Organization XIII coat, but whatever it was must have effected Kairi fairly badly for her to be this shaken up.

Naminé would have to wait for a chance ask Kairi what happened to her after they were separated during the battle to find out what caused the usually level-headed strategist to be this unsettled. She's learned at least that much from being with Kairi, Olette and everyone else she's met in Hollow Bastion.

Naminé has been through a great many ordeals since she first awoken and was found by Axel.

Naminé's seen the horrors of this war between the forces light and the darkness. She's seen the destruction of Hollow Bastion, enduring the loss of everyone she came to know in Hollow Bastion, and fought some of the hardest battles imaginable, many of which she nearly died in; but Naminé managed to endure them and maintain her kind heart.

A heart she was ready to aid those she loved, and she will help the one's loved most; for that Naminé was certain.

Kairi needed to get her mind under control.

Breath in, breath out.

Breath in, breath out…

Kairi's heart began to slow and go back to its normal rhythm.

Ok. I need to think. How will I go about explaining this to everyone? Kairi told herself as their group turned down one of the many corridors that made up Old Hollow Bastion.

As soon as she turned the corner, Kairi's heart immediately slammed back into her ribcage at a familiar fast paced rhythm.

Dammit! Kairi thought as she saw the entrance to Sanctuary.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

There was a shift in the Darkness of the Girl's mind; as if sensing some new presence.

Looking about her mind, the Girl saw nothing but the same black void with the slivers of light that made up her mind.

The pool of light that had been forming bit by bit at the very base of the Girl's mind seemed to ripple with…excitement. Was that even possible?

Moving through the darkness, the Girl's consciousness began to feel something as well, not the cold of her mind or the pain of her physical body that suffered damage and was mending the injures sustained from her battle with that man and woman, but a… warm feeling, a sort of familiar warmth that she never experienced before. The sensation seemed to be coming from the center of her chest; where her heart was…

At the base of her mind, the pool of light seemed to start resonating.

Curious, the Girl moved to be directly over the echoing pool of light. Looking into it she saw her reflection.

She saw herself for the first time, her shoulder length black hair, her blue eyes, her face devoid of expression, and she wore the black hooded coat she found when she first woke; nothing overly intriguing to the Girl's consciousness.

Suddenly, the light pool rippled and there was a different reflection looking at her this time.

This girl who appeared looked exactly like her.

Except… her expression and demeanor… they were the completely different.

The reflection of herself had the smile of someone who had nothing truly dire to worry about other than the miniscule tasks of her daily life. She wore some kind of uniform of some sort, but the Girl didn't know anything else other than that it was a uniform; more information that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

The uniform consisted of a short-sleeve white buttoned up collared shirt with a blue plaid skirt. The reflection had her hands behind her back with her shoulders hunched up and was smiled up at the Girl with her head tilted slightly to the side. As if she could see her.

The warm feeling the Girl felt in her chest grew and spread through her, enveloping her consciousness in warmth.

The feeling was so alien; the Girl didn't know how to respond to the change in her being.

Looking down, the Girl saw that her echo was waving to her with that same smile, than the reflection extended an arm forward, reaching out to the Girl, as if asking her to join her in the light.

Not knowing why, or not knowing what else's to do, the Girl reached out to her reflection. The closer her hand got to her reflections outstretched hand, the more that warmth spread throughout her being, and just as her hand was about to make contact with the pool of light, the warm feeling inside her seemed to swell.

Then the pool of light began to ripple and stir with excitement.

This made the Girl hesitate and cause her to pull her hand back slightly from the pool of unsettled light.

The Girl's reflection pulled back her extended arm and smiled sadly at the Girl, seemingly disappointed by the Girl's action, yet she continued to smile. Why?

She's clearly coming from the collectiveness of the slivers of light, each sliver containing a piece of memory. So that brings up the question she had before.

Whose memories was she taking in?

As if hearing the question the Girl's refection changed once more as the light continued to ripple.

The image that looked up at her this time was a girl that looked just like her, except this girl had dark-red hair that came down around her shoulders and she wore a flaming red outfit that looked like it was made for her, and after a moment, the Girl recognized the redheaded warrior from when she touched that sliver of light and was immersed into that memory of her and those other two women were surrounded by the beings of Darkness, the Heartless, only this was a younger version of the woman she saw in that fragmented memory.

Was that whose memories she was getting? The Girl though to herself while examining the new reflection.

The image of the redheaded girl looked up at her and smiled.

Out of nowhere, the warm sensation the Girl had turned into a severe heat that rapidly began to envelop her.

The Girl flinched away from the image of the redheaded girl and began to move away from the pool of light, hoping to lessen the intensity of the heat that she felt coming from her core.

But to no avail, the heat continued to grow no matter how far she moved away from the pool of light. That of which was now swirling and churning violently around the image of the redheaded girl, who now looked up at the Girl with determined eyes and a smile on her face.

Then the image of the girl reached out to the edge of the pool of liquid light and burst through the surface as if emerging from an actual pool of water.

She now stood waist deep in the collective pool of light, her red outfit making her stand out in the background of the light and darkness. Her head was downcast and she seemed to be adjusting to the new atmosphere around her.

Then she suddenly looked up at the Girl's mental personification of herself with that same look of determination along with that smile she had before when she was still contained in the pool of gathered light.

The Girl had a hand clenched at the front of the coat she wore, still feeling that heat in her chest as she looked down at the redheaded girl, and when they made eye contact, the heat intensified even more.

This feeling, what was it? The Girl thought as she looked directly into the other girl's eyes.

She may have a blank expression on her face, but at her core, she was in pain and she knew it, her mind and her body seemed to be trying to reject the memories that have been pooling at the base of her mind, but the slivers of light continued to descend from the larger mass of light that still remained at the edge of her mind.

Only now the slivers of light seemed to be falling at a faster rate and continued to increase in speed.

The Girl watched as the fall of the shards of light continued descending and caused the size of the pool of light grow faster around the unknown girl that continued looking at the Girl's consciousness, whom continued to move away from the growing pool of light.

Suddenly the expression on the redheaded girl's face changed from that determined look to a kind and welcoming smile that caused to Girl to pause in her upward retreat.

The intensity of the heat in the Girl's heart slowly began to diminish until it was but a gentle warmth emanating from within her chest.

Looking down at the girl that remained in the collected form of light, who was still looked at her with that tender smile, the Girl felt something tingle throughout her mind, a sort of jolt of electricity as the redheaded girl suddenly disappeared from the pool of light and reappeared directly in front of the Girl.

For the first time since she awoke, the Girl felt something besides her dull curiosity of the world around her, she felt surprised by the girl seemingly materializing directly in front of her.

The redhead seemed to be… amused by the Girl's startled reaction; she then extended both her arms outward, as it to embrace the Girl, but she only looked at her, still smiling at the black cladded girl sweetly.

The Girl just looked at her, puzzled by the other girl's actions; not knowing what to do.

Then the redhead, with that same smile and her arms still outstretched, waved her hands towards herself, as if to say 'come on, its ok.'.

She didn't know why, but the Girl slowly began to move closer to the redheaded girl; there was something compelling her to accept this personified memory's embrace.

Once they were both separated by mere inches, the Girl had her eyes downcast, while the girl made of memories simple smiled at her and began to enclose her arms around the black haired girl.

The Girl could feel the other girl's arms hold her and pull her into a closer embrace, and the Girl laid her head down on the redhead's shoulder, giving into the welcoming touch that caused her to feel a strong wave of nostalgia, the origin of that sensation, as always, was unknown.

After a moment of being held by the redhead aberration, the Girl noticed that the pool of light was swirling excitedly and continued to churn faster.

Why was the amassed light acting like that? She wondered.

Suddenly a pillar of liquid light shot out of the center of the built up fragments of light like a geyser, sending the column of light straight toward the Girl and redhead.

Seeing this, the host of this mind attempted to move out of the path that the pillar was traveling, but the redhead didn't release her hold on her, instead she seemed to tighten her hold on her; however it was not in any way aggressive, it was gentle yet firm.

Nevertheless, the Girl struggled, as that portion of light closed the distance between them, and as the mass of light moved across the Girl's mind, it left a trail of light in its wake; spreading more fragmented memories all throughout the darkness, filling the Girl's mind with light more rapidly than the continues snow like fall of those slivers of light that joined together with the rest of the spreading light.

The Girl watched as the light spread throughout her mind and changed the character of it entirely, shifting it from its cold, dark atmosphere to one of warmth, and brightness at a steady rate, and as her mind filled with light, the Girl's entire being was flooded with warmth the more the light seemed to sweep away the darkness that once held dominion over the Girl's mind.

The sudden and drastic change in her mind stunned her.

This feeling… The Girl didn't know how to describe it. In the short time she existed, she never felt anything like this; only cold unforgiving pain, but this, this sensation of warmth… and the comforting embrace from this unknown figure only intensified the growing heat in her chest.

Then, as the column of light neared, being so bright that the Girl had to avert her gaze, she felt the redhead holding her give her one more comforting squeeze before she abruptly released the Girl entirely, and was engulfed in the mass of light just before it collided with the Girl who flinched as she was blinded and completely immersed in the light.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Voices…

That was the first indicator that told the Girl she had finally awoken from her unconsciousness.

She felt that her hood was back over her head, and she could feel a heavy weight on her shoulders, noting she could not move her arms that were crossed over her chest, or move her legs that she was sitting on.

She appeared to be chained down to the ground, and to a wall behind her, learning that merely by moving her arms and legs slightly, getting a feel for the directions the chains were going. So all she could do was listen to what was around her.

She could hear the chatter of the people around her, all talking at different volumes in different directions all around her. Some words she could comprehend, but others she couldn't make out; the words she could understand were only bits and pieces of separate conversations.

What she did hear drew her curiosity and while she eavesdropped, she kept her eyes closed and concentrated on listening to her surroundings.

"… sent out to the residential district." She heard a male voice say.

"Yeah, a messenger came back from Her Majesty's unit from out on the surface. Apparently they found the mages along with Tifa, and the missing Keyblader all in one go." A female voice answered back.

Keyblade… A weapon created by light and used by warriors chosen to seal the Keyhole of any world, to protect their hearts from the forces of Darkness, or from those looking to abuse or corrupt it.

The Girl knew what those weapons were, and after experiencing those visons while unconscious, the images of those three women surrounded by those beings of Darkness, the Heartless; as they fought back against the tide of shadows using Keyblades.

The Girl listened to the pair converse for a few more moments, to see if they would say anything else concerning the Keyblader that was located, but the man and woman only went on to discuss what they thought about the change in the world's atmosphere.

Losing interest in their conversation, the Girl began to think about what she heard, and what she experienced while in her mind.

That girl that appeared in her mind… she was the same woman she saw in that fragmented memory using a Keyblade. Was she the Keyblader that was found?

Suddenly the Girl heard a rise in voices off to her side.

Wanting to know what was causing this new round of voice to stir, she finally opened her eyes and took in her surroundings for the first time.

She saw that she was in fact chained up to the wall behind her and to the ground directly surrounding her. Looking around, she saw that she was in a massive cavern that was filled with ruined buildings and campfires with various sized tents scattered around each one with people going on about their own business.

The stir of voices was coming from the Girl's left side.

Looking over, she saw that there was a small crowed of people gathered around one of the cavern walls that had a passageway leading out into what appeared to be a series of tunnels.

At the head of the small crowed stood a man with brown hair wearing a leather black long sleeved jacket with similar black pants, and he carried a sword strapped to his belt… only it was a strange shape in comparison to what her mind showed when she thought of a sword.

He appeared to be waiting with his arms crossed as he subtly tapped his foot, other than that; there was no other outward expression that said he was anxious, not with that stoic look on his face, giving nothing away.

Next to him stood a girl with blond hair tied back into two separate pigtails with a short fringe and two long side bangs. She wore a thick dark yellow leather coat over a slim blue and gold outfit with brown leather shoulder guards and knee-high blue and brown leather boots. She also had a pair of daggers sheathed in an X on her lower back along her belt, they had red and blue grips and the blade split briefly than connected, creating gold incrusted silver blades that were a foot long.

She, unlike the man, was openly anxious with her crossed arms and was constantly shifting her weight from foot to foot while she tapped her finger constantly with her right arm onto her left.

What here they waiting for? The Girl wondered.

Suddenly, the two's stance relaxed along with their facial expressions as they looked into the tunnel they, and a number of other armed people had gathered around, as if they saw something coming out of the tunnel that they've been waiting for.

Than that's when the Girl saw the group of people coming out of the tunnel, she watched curiously as the other group entered the main cavern, until she spotted a splash of red in the new arrivals, causing her to stiffen as she saw exactly who was in the group.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Kairi felt like she was being watched.

Well, aside from the number of people that stood just outside of Sanctuary's entrance; who, Kairi assumed, were posted as guards to make certain that no enemies could enter Sanctuary without being noticed since this was the only way into the large cavern.

But this feeling wasn't the same as being watched while walking into an open area; this feeling sent shivers down her spine, as if someone was specifically watching her.

Not only that, but Kairi could feel her headache's pain spike to a new level; causing the redhead to rub her temples as they continued further through the small crowd of onlookers.

Thinking back, ever since her group entered the corridor of tunnels that made up Old Hollow Bastion, Kairi's headache slowly began to worsen the closer she got to Sanctuary; but she was too busy mentally to really register her discomfort.

Ugg! Why is my head hurting this much?

Kairi continued rubbing at her temples to try and ease the pain, but to no avail.

As her group reached the head of those assembled, Kairi saw who obviously caused such a… 'warm welcome' at the very entrance of Sanctuary.

In all his stoic glory, Leon stood with his arms crossed in his usual attire, except he wore a long sleeve leather jacket rather than his regular short sleeve jacket.

What. Does he have his own collection of different black leather jackets of various styles? Even with her headache a small smile played across Kairi's face at the idea.

Next to Leon stood the girl who was friends with Ashe and Basch; if Kairi remembered correctly, her name was Penelo.

She wore a dark yellow jacket over her usual attire, and she looked relieved to see their group, or more pointedly, Ashe and Basch.

Once Kairi's group stopped in front of Leon and Penelo, the swordsman ordered the medics and mages that were scattered throughout the crowd of people to check the condition of those that have finally returned or were found out on the surface of Hollow Bastion.

Tifa, and Aerith were led off together to be examined in one of the many tents scattered throughout the cavern; while Rydia, and Garnet also went to be examined in separate tents as well. Ashe and Basch met with Leon and Penelo, most likely to be debriefed by Leon.

As a woman, who was one of the medics, approached Kairi to examine her for any injures or side-effects of being exposed to the unnatural winter atmosphere that now dominated Hollow Bastion, Kairi gently tugged the arm Naminé clung to slightly, signaling for her to let go.

"Naminé, I need my arm back please."

Looking into the blonde's glistening eyes, the redhead smiled reassuringly, a feeling she didn't have, but she wanted to comfort her blonde lover.

Seeing this, Olette moved around to stand next to Naminé and wrapped an arm protectively around the smaller girl's shoulders.

"Come on Naminé; let's let Kairi get checked out, and while she's doing that we can get some food for us. I'm starving, and I know you and she are as well."

The brunette said while lightly pulling at her blonde girlfriend.

As if on cue, Naminé's stomach gave a fairly loud growl, causing the blonde to blush lightly as she looked at Olette.

"I'd rather stay with Kairi… but…I am a little hungry."

Naminé said adorably with a fading blush on her cheeks that Kairi found extremely cute.

The redhead smiled at both Naminé and Olette.

"Don't worry Naminé, I'll get checked out really quick and join you both for something to eat. I'm pretty hungry myself."

Olette, whom was grinning, nodded her head and lightly tugged at Naminé again.

"Let's get going Naminé, the sooner we let Kairi get examined, the sooner we get food, and the sooner we get to eat together."

With one last look, Naminé quickly peck a kiss on Kairi's cheek as she reluctantly let go of the redheads arm and went with the brunette to find something to eat for all of them.

As they walked away, Kairi heard Olette tease Naminé.

"Awww, that was so cute Naminé, I guess I'll have to step up my game. I don't want you stealing her away from me."

Kairi couldn't hear Naminé's response as they move out of ear shot, but she found there bantering funny and adorable.

As the medic guided the redhead to one of the unoccupied tents to check her for injures, Kairi felt that strange impression of being watched again as she followed the medic towards an empty tent.

While she walked, Kairi looked around for whatever was causing her to feel this sensation.

Looking around, all she saw were people going on about their business, people going in and out of tents, others either resting or doing something else around the campfire. Just when Kairi was about to just stop worrying about this feeling.

She saw something out of place.

To her far right, Kairi saw a figure sitting on their knees up against the cavern wall… Nowhere near any campfires or tents…

Kairi stopped in her tracks as she tried to focus her vison on the figure, trying to make out their features better.

Suddenly Kairi's headache spiked, causing her to closer her eyes and press her palms to her temples as the pain grew, then abruptly faded to a low throbbing behind her eyes.

Opening her eye again, Kairi looked back at the figure once more, and after a moment, feeling a wave of familiarity, she began to walk toward the silhouette that sat by the far wall.

The Girl watched the redheaded girl cloaked in black since the moment she entered the cavern.

She watched the girl's interaction with the other two girls, the affection they showed for each other… Seeing it sent a wave of longing through the Girl, this alien feeling caught her off-guard as she watched the two girls, one blonde, the other a brunette, walk away from the redhead that she couldn't help but watch.

Once the other two girls had gotten a decent distance from her, the redheaded girl began to follow after the woman, who appeared to be of a medical background, to a tent that was to the Girl's right.

But while she watched the redhead follow the woman, she saw that the redheaded girl was observing her surroundings with a great interest, as if looking for something specific.

Then when the girl's gaze finally traveled in the Girl's direction, her eyes seemed to land directly on the Girl, causing her to feel a faint spark in the back of her mind as the redhead seemed to be trying to focus her sights on the Girl.

At this time, the medic that had been leading Kairi to the tent had noticed the Keyblader had ceased following her, and began to call after her.

"Miss?"

Kairi paused mid-stride to look back at her.

"Oh. Um… sorry, could you wait for me in the tent please; I'll be there in a moment. I just need to check on something really fast."

Without waiting for a reply, Kairi continued her stride closing the distance between her and the slumped figure; and the closer she got the better she could make out their features.

What she could distinguish was that the figure appeared to be wearing an Organization XIII coat, although this person was much smaller up close and in comparison to Organization member Kairi's seen… was significantly smaller, and clearly a girl.

Seeing this caused Kairi's heart to quicken… actually it was already doing that, she noticed, the closer she got to the coated figure that gave off such a feeling of familiarity.

Suddenly there was a flash of images in Kairi's mind along with a recognizable spike of pain; causing her to flinch and grab at her head, again trying to sooth the pain that pulsed from the depths of her mind as these images played across her vison.

Images of memories Kairi never lived, memories of that false world, a world she knew wasn't real, showing her images of Xion, the "sister" that never existed.

Now Kairi's vison was filled with light and images of Xion smiling up at her, only causing the flood of memories to increase as she was reminded of the loving sister Kairi had in memory but not in reality.

The idea only brought on a wave of tears to stream down her face.

Why? Why am I seeing these memories all of a sudden? Kairi thought as her head pulsed with every flash of images.

What was causing this sudden burst of memories?

Still holding her head in her hands, Kairi slowly opened her eyes as her tears began to subside along with the flash of memories that seemed to take the pounding in her head with it.

Slightly panting, Kairi waited a moment to see if there would be a relapse, but nothing came. Pulling her hands from her tear stricken face, said tears that were beginning to freeze onto her cheeks until Kairi quickly wiped them away; she closeted her eyes and took a moment to calm her breathing before trying to regain her composer.

Breath in, breath out…

After another moment, Kairi opened her eyes again and looked up at the figure that was only a couple yard away once more, able to see the figure clearly for the first time and what she saw stopped her in her tracks, and left her shocked.

That can't be. Kairi thought to herself feeling shell-shocked.

Looking up at Kairi were the familiar blue eyes that, at least in her memories, once looked at her with a brightness that was full of unconditional love and adoration, but now they looked at her with a dull light but other than that, there was nothing. No love, no hate… just… nothing.

There's no way… How is she even her? Kairi didn't know whether she was still in a dream or if reality was just playing a cruel joke on her.

Sitting before her, chained to the wall behind her and to the ground around her in an Organization XIII coat, was her sister Xion.

The Girl finally made direct eye contact with the redheaded girl, who stopped only a few feet in front of her, looking pale and wide eyed at her, as if in shock.

They continued to watch each other for a few moments.

Until the redhead slowly approached the Girl, who could do nothing but watch as the girl in front of her slowly closed the distance between each other.

Once Kairi stopped directly in front of the girl that looked like an slightly older vison of the little sister she remembered; she looked to be the same age as Kairi now rather than being a couple of years younger than she was like she remembered.

They both just stared at each other, as if trying to decipher each other's thoughts.

The Girl couldn't read the emotions in the redhead's eyes clearly, there appeared to be a light in them that was filled with love, but there was also a pain in her eyes that showed how tormented she felt.

After another moment passed, the redhead made the first move of interaction between them.

Kairi slowly lowered herself down and took a knee in front of the chained girl, her face was still pale, but she had managed to regain her composer.

Xion just continued to watch her intently.

The Girl truly didn't know how to react to the girl in front of her. She knew that this girl was important to her; the memories that now filled her mind were originating from the redhead. So logic would dictate that they were connected in some way, but the warmth this girl managed to bring out in her… The Girl needed to know who this girl was and what she was to her.

Sitting in front of her, the redhead extended her right hand out, reaching toward her face; seeing this, the Girl's body instinctively tensed up, naturally trying to defend itself, just like when she first encountered those people in the snow covered town she was in before she was knocked out by whatever had hit her from behind, and whatever it was had immense strength.

Just as the Keyblader laid her hand on the Girl's cheek, she broke the silencer that surrounded them with one word in a trembling voice.

"Xion…"


	4. Assault on Sanctuary – Retaliation

**A/N**

Sorry for the long wait; I've been working on this every chance I have down time while at work, and that's a rare thing where I work; Heh. I would also like to thank Cormag Ravenstaff and GIGGLINGGUMMYBEAR for their feedback and/or help on some parts of my story. So without further ado; here it is, Chapter 3 of my baby. Please review; I'd loved any feedback from anyone… as long as it's helpful and not pointlessly hurtful. Thank You.

 **Valiant Hearts III  
**

 **Chapter 3**

Assault on Sanctuary – Pushing Back the Tide

"What are our losses?"

The cold malevolent voice of the Superior broke the silence of the gathered members of Organization XIII in the meeting chamber in the Castle that Never Was.

Xemnas knew the losses were in fact heavy; he only wanted to know the exact amount lost to assess how much he would need to alter the plans that he had already set into motion.

"We lost a majority of our forces from the attacks brought on by the eidolons summoned by those sorceresses,"

Xaldin answered immediately to the Superior's question and explained the situation. He, like all the other members, sat in his white throne; all lower than the Superior's throne.

"Overall, our force's losses are over sixty three percent while the witch, and her Heartless lost most of their main force, nevertheless she still has ample amounts of Heartless in reserve in the Realm of Darkness to easily replenish her ranks."

After a slight pause, Xaldin lean forward on his through and made to continue on; he didn't get far.

"As for our forces, they will take a substantial amount of time to-"

The Superior's deep emotionless voice cut him off.

"Irrelevant. Our current forces will suffice for the time being and we continue as planned."

As silence fell over the chamber, all occupants in the room looked to the Superior, waiting for his order on what their next move would be, all except one.

Xemnas knew they had failed in their attempt on eradicating the vermin in Hollow Bastion, and the efforts of the experiment led by Xigbar were no longer an option.

The Girl was most likely destroyed during Celsius's rampage, if so than she was no longer a factor in their plans; but if she had survived the onslaught from Celsius…

Then perhaps she was still of use.

Looking down at the remaining members of Organization XIII; he had a decision to make. For this decision he was making, if successful would accelerate his plans immensely, and if it failed then it was only a simple loss in one of the many alternative paths to reach his goal.

Xemnas made his decision.

Looking down to the throne on his right sat Xigbar.

He sat with his elbow propped up on his seat and his chin resting on his knuckles while he appeared to be deep in though as he stared ahead at nothing.

He was disappointed that all his hard work was for nothing, and that he lost his greatest achievement and it was all thanks to those damn rat in Hollow Bastion. If they hadn't summoned Celsius then he could have to end result of all the work he'd in to the creation of the first artificial Nobody.

But now all his work was gone, taken by the ice and frost of Celsius, even if she had survived somehow he'd never know.

"Xigbar."

The emotionless voice of the Superior tore the Arrowgun wielder from his thoughts.

Looking up to see the cold narrowed gaze of the Superior looking down on him; he realized that he'd been caught musing to himself, Xigbar feared that there would be repercussions for ignore their leader's words.

A fear that proved right as Xemnas made a slight gesture with his hand in Xigbar's direction. For a moment nothing happened, and then Xigbar felt a searing pain pass through his right shoulder.

Grunting in pain, Xigbar grabbed at his shoulder, expecting to feel warm blood flowing from his shoulder. Only there was no slash going through his body, just the intense pain pulsing under his skin, as if there was a heated blade cutting clean through him.

It only lasted a moment, but I felt like an eternity before Xemnas gestured once more and the pain slowly began fading away.

Xemnas would not stand to be ignored by those beneath him. No matter how insignificant it may be.

Looking down at Xigbar; who now looked up at him, still cradling his right shoulder with his left hand, Xemnas continued on as if nothing had happened.

"Xigbar, you are to take a fraction of our forces back to the home of those bothersome pests and find the location of whatever rock those vermin hid themselves under and report back; and along with that being your main intent, you are to recover your experiment if at all possible. Is that understood?"

Still holding his pulsing shoulder, Xigbar bowed his head slightly and responded in a rather unsteady voice.

"Yes Superior, I will do as you command."

"Good."

Xemnas simply replied finally removing his gaze from Xigbar.

"You will leave immediately; and as for the rest of you-"

With that being said, Xigbar opened a portal of darkness just below his throne as he dropped into it.

Since the distance wasn't far, the trip was near instantaneous as he stepped out into one of the many corridors the Castle that Never Was; all the while feeling a buzz of excitement.

He was going to be able to salvage his work, all that effort was not for nothing, and all he had do was to retrieve the girl and find whatever rock those Rats from Hollow Bastion had scurried under and report back.

Even with the pain still fading from his throbbing shoulder, Xigbar had a wicked grin on his face as he went to prepare for his return trip to that retched world.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

"Come on Naminé; I don't think Kairi is going to really care what we bring her to eat as long as its food."

Olette stood smirking just behind her blonde companion, holding a tray consisting of two steaming bowls of stew, a couple of apples and a piece of bread large enough to share between two people; all the while Naminé was still considering on what foods to bring for Kairi.

The blonde mage wanted to get Kairi something flavorful and filling but also warm to help keep up her body temperature.

She'd decided on stew with a couple of oranges and a few slices of bread when Olette decided to chime in about Kairi not caring what Naminé got her.

Looking back at the duel wielding Keyblader, who had a smirk on her face; Naminé narrowed her eyes on the brunette.

"She may not care; but I do, and she needs to eat the right things to make sure she recovers from being exposed to this enchanted atmosphere for as long as she was, and I'll make sure she gets everything she needs to recover completely."

Olette's smirk turned into a full-fledged smile.

"Ok, Ok, lets go. I'm sure Kairi is as hungry as we are, probably even more so then us actually. So come on."

Olette waited for Naminé to walk up next to her before turning around and began walking side by side with her girlfriend through the spaces between the many tents scattered throughout the caver of Sanctuary; making their way back to where they had parted ways Kairi.

After they had left the redhead with the medic to be examined, they both had made their way to the one of the many food tents that were distributed all around Sanctuary, mostly walking in silence after a bit of teasing from Olette; enjoying each other's company, and the fact that they found the girl they both love alive and well.

With that in mind, both girls continued maneuvering around the numerous tents along their path back to the area where they had left Kairi with the medic.

As they walked, they saw the many surviving citizens of Hollow Bastion who were now trying to settle down in their temporary homes. Most looked like they were shell-shocked or grief-stricken; while others appeared angry or enraged about the loss of their loved ones.

Olette could understand where that anger came from; when Kairi went missing, Olette was furious.

The fear of losing a loved one for good terrified the brunette, and what Olette fear, Olette fought, she was not one to sit idly by and hope that her fears wouldn't come to pass. She would do everything in her power to prevent them instead.

But finding Kairi and knowing that everyone she cared about was alive and safe brought on a wave of relief to the young brunette. However, seeing these people who've lost their loved ones brought a slight pang of guilt into Olette's heart; knowing that those dear to her were safe, while others around her, complete strangers, had lost those they loved.

But this was war.

People are going to die, and Olette knew this; and so did those who called Hollow Bastion home.

Pushing the feeling of guilt away, Olette huffed out a quiet sigh as she kept pace with Naminé; carrying her respective tray around the cluster of tents surrounding them.

All the while Naminé watched out of the corner of her eye as Olette seemed to be mentally struggling with herself as they walked, seemingly ending whatever conflict within herself in a small sigh.

The young mage could feel the mixed feelings in the air coming off the residence of Hollow Bastion; she could feel their sorrow, grief, anger, and rage. This atmosphere acted like a blanket, covering the once high-spirited people of Hollow Bastion with a feeling of loss and distress.

But there was something else there as well. Naminé could feel it.

There was an undertone of resolve hidden beneath all the emotion; an unsaid tenacity that the blonde mage had come to know from the people of Hollow Bastion.

Even after all the death and destruction that these people had endured, Naminé knew that they would come back even after this conflict.

The people of Hollow Bastion were nothing if not resilient.

But like all thing, it would take time to recover from such an ordeal; and seeing those that occupied the many tents on the path they walked… Naminé knew it would take a significant amount of time to be able to get over this kind of loss; and Naminé knew how lucky she was to know that the ones she loved were safe and still with her while others had lost so much.

But she knew it was pointless to dwell on such things.

If they didn't fight then they would have been wiped out completely long ago, and that would have left the other worlds out there to fend for them self's against the Heartless and leave the Organization to do as they pleased without any real resistance.

These losses were something they all had to live with, because as long Hollow Bastion survived then the Heart of All Worlds, Kingdom Hearts, would still have guardians to defend it and prevent the Darkness from consuming all worlds.

Naminé knew this, and that was but another reason for her to fight.

Looking at Olette as they walked only reminded the blond mage of her other reasons for why she chose to fight.

The same reason everyone here fought. To protect those they held dear from the forces of Darkness and those who aided the spread of Darkness.

And now Naminé was more determined than ever to defeat the Organization and protect her loved once.

With that in mind, Naminé continued onward with a more determined stride as she walked beside Olette to the medical tent that Kairi was being brought to for her checkup before they left to get food.

Like all the other tents, it was a bland shade of grey with its six post canopy, the only indication that it was a medical tent was the large red circled cross on either side of the twin canopy roof and the front flap leading into the tent itself.

Holding her tray with one hand, Olette used her free hand to pull back the tent flap to allow Naminé to enter first then followed the smaller girl into the cloth shelter.

Upon entering, Naminé and Olette saw the numerus types of medical equipment that were able to be transported here easily without needing any major power sources aside from the power provided by one of the many generators scattered throughout the cavern that made up there underground shelter to help power any priority equipment that was needed.

Another thing they both noticed was that the only occupant was the same medic that asked to examine Kairi for any injuries looking up at them when they entered. She seemed to be in the process of getting some of the medical equipment ready for use.

Both the blonde and brunette looked at each other in confusion. Eyebrows drawn together, Olette looked at the older woman.

"Has Kairi finished already?"

The medic replied with a huff of irritation.

"No miss. She told me to wait for her here, saying she needed to check something first not long after the two of you left to get those trays of food."

The woman crossed her arms looking at Naminé and Olette thoughtfully.

"Hmmm… Do you think you two could find her for me so I can check her for any lasting side effect from being exposed to this magical environment?"

Looking at Naminé, Olette thought for a moment and gave a small shrug.

The young mage simply smiled sweetly and nodded.

Turning back to the medic, who watched them expectantly, the dual-wielder sighed and gave a nod.

"Ok, we'll get her, but can we leave these trays here where it's a little warmer please? I'd hate to eat frozen breed."

To that the medic nodded and began to rummage through some of the boxes of medical supplies in the tent, eventually pulling out a thermal blanket.

With a raised eyebrow, Olette opened her mouth to ask what that was for when Naminé chimed in.

"Oh! What a wonderful idea."

She turns to Olette while setting her tray down on a clear table with an adorable smile on her face, causing the brunette to smile as well.

"Olette put your tray down and she can cover it with that heat blanket to keep them warm while we go get Kairi."

Smiling fondly at the smaller girl, Olette set her tray down next to Naminé's and the medic tossed the heat blanket over them to preserve the stews warmth then looked up at the two Keybladers.

"I appreciate this. Just bring her here and once I give her a quick check up you can all eat together."

Olette and Naminé both nodded before they walked out of the tent and looked around the general area for the familiar splash of red hair that the both of them have come to love.

After a moment of looking around and not seeing any sign of Kairi, Olette began to walk in the direction of where they had left Kairi after their return from the surface near Sanctuary's entrance.

Naminé, not missing a beat, walked right next to Olette, and after a moment the blonde wrapped her arm around the brunette's arm and clung to her as they walk.

Olette, not expecting this action at first, was put off balance for an instant but straightened up a bit before look at her girlfriend with a smirk on her face.

Naminé only smiled up at her as she kept pace with the taller girl and they continued walking together while looking for Kairi.

It was a short walk.

As they passed by a ruined building near the caver wall, Olette saw two figures together close against the wall; both appeared to be sitting facing each other. What really caught the brunette fighter's attention was the dark red hair of the person with their back to them. She knew that shade of red intimately.

But who was that other person? Olette mussed to herself.

Naminé saw where Olette was looking and her eyes lit up at the sight of Kairi, not noticing the slumped figure in front of the redhead.

As they moved closer to where Kairi knelt by the wall, none of them noticed the four silver figures that were fazing through the caver ceiling above all their heads.

The figures watched everything for a moment as they now accomplished both their objectives at once; having found the location of the survivors of this world and finding their designated primary target. Now their instructions if finding either target was to report back to their higher-ups.

If a Nobody could feel, they would have felt pleased with themselves, but they only felt the urge to follow the directives they were given from their betters.

A moment passed before the silver beings dutifully followed their orders and fazed back into the ceiling of the caver and returned to the surface of the world and back to the one leading them.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Xigbar stood over the frozen ruins of where he'd been forced to leave his greatest achievement to freeze and die.

Only She wasn't there.

No half-frozen, barely alive unconscious girl; no frozen body of what he worked so hard to create. There wasn't even a corps of the Keyblader that was to be the catalyst to bring his creation to life.

Did those Rats that inhabited this world taker them, did they recover her body or did they take her prisoner.

He needed to know what became of his creation.

He'd sent out groups of his Assassin's with the orders to report back if they found either the rock those pests had crawled under, or if they found his experiment.

It was only a matter of time before he got something from one of the many groups he had sent out.

As if fate itself was on his side, Xigbar felt the presence of his Assassins making their way just below the surface of the world. He could sense that they had accomplished part of their orders and were now returning to report their findings.

With their coming arrival, a spark of hope manifested in the snipers mind as he opened a portal of Darkness to meet his Nobodies halfway to him in the middle of the canyon.

Stepping through it and moving halfway across the canyon in an instant, Xigbar was about a hundred meters from his scouts, and that distance was quickly decreasing as the seconds ticked by.

The sniper waited with his arms crossed for his Nobodies to reach him.

After a moment the ground in front of Xigbar began to ripple and shift, as if the solid ground was made of liquid, then four silver figures rose out of the ground in front of him.

They were identical as all Nobodies were when it came to the type that they were formed to be.

Their bodies were skeletal in form, with their needle shaped heads that were down cast as they stood in front of the one who commands them.

There height was just below Xigbar's nose, but if they stood tall and to their full height, they would be nearly twice the height that they were already. Their arms were in the form of long tendrils covered in razor sharp blades, good for cutting into those that threaten the ones they serve.

Xigbar wasted no time in reaching into the minds of these husks and pulled the images of what they had found that triggered the protocol that was programed into them that had them return to him with information on their objectives.

The mental images of what they saw flowed into his mind.

He saw what looked to be an underground cavern full ruined building, tents around campfires, and occupying by the vermin that once inhabited the surface of this world.

How appropriate, these cockroaches literally fled underneath a rock. Now that he knew there location, he would report back to the Superior.

As Xigbar was about to withdraw from the mental link to his minions, but the Nobodies pressed for Xigbar to continue watching the images playing through his head.

Ignoring the Assassins urge to continue watching, Xigbar was about to disconnect his link to them anyway until he saw a small cluster of people by the wall of the cavern.

And this was clearly the point of interest to the Nobodies because the view of the shadowy figures closed in on them and cleared up; showing exactly who caught the attention of his spies.

At first, Xigbar only saw the two Keybladers that they didn't capture walking up to the wall, and then the third figure came into view and what he saw shocked him.

It was the redheaded Keyblade they captured and killed to bring his experiment to life was standing closest to the wall; and wearing one of Organization's coats no less.

How was she alive?

She died before they could finish the conversion between his experiment and the Keyblader. They had literally tore her soul and heart out of her; there was no possible way she could have survived that, they even confirmed she was dead after the failed attempt to awaken the Girl.

She was kneeling down in front of the last figure that seemed to be sitting against the wall, and as the view of the Assassins moved over to reveal Her…

This was it. This was exactly what he wanted to see.

She was there, She was alive and awake… But She was in the center of the Rat's nest…

She was there in that cavern; chained to the wall and ground around her as she looked at the redheaded Keyblader kneeling in front of her with a look of… familiarity.

How was that possible…?

Shaking his head of that irrelevant question, Xigbar need to focus on what was important.

He found Her and he needed to recover her if possible, those were his orders; but he was also ordered to report back when he found the location of the vermin's new hideout.

This was an issue. Both his orders conflicted with one another, clearly the thought of these Rats finding and apprehending his experiment hadn't been considered for his mission parameters… Or had they?

Was this a test set by Xemnas?

Xigbar knew that the Superior's every action had a reason behind it, giving him the order to recover the Girl 'if at all possible' were the orders after having to report back after discovering the location of the vermin's new location.

But there was the chance he was over thinking things and was making the wrong assumption.

Should he risking an assault on the enemy's new location in attempt to recover his experiment, risking possible consequences from the Superior if he is wrong about this mission being a test for himself, or should he cut his losses and report back his findings?

Taking a step back from the four Nobodies in front of him, Xigbar began to pace back and forth, creating a trail from where he walked to and from while he considered what to do for this situation.

He knew the enemies location, he knew the Girl's location; them being in the same place was irrelevant. He needed to get his creation out of the hands of those vermin before they damaged or ruined her in any way. He was ordered to recover her if at all possible, so that's what he was going to do.

Xigbar stopped his pacing and looked to his four Assassins before him and used a mental wave to call all the forces he had brought with him to his location.

He only had to wait a minute before a few hundred Nobodies began to amass around him.

Types ranging from more Assassins, to a dozen Berserkers, a few dozen Samurai, Dancer's, along with Husk's making up the bulk of his forces and the only high level Nobody he was able to bring was the ever shifting and moving Twilight Thorn that toward over his forces.

It wasn't much; but Xigbar would make do with this meager sized force to assault whatever sanctuary those Rats thought they've found.

He would recover Her, and he would continue her development for the Superior's plan; and he wouldn't wipe out those vermin, he would only moving to extract his precise experiment and pull back once she was recovered.

Once that was done he would report the location of the surviving force of what was once Hollow Bastion to the Superior.

As long as Xigbar managed to reclaim his experiment and leave those Rats alive with enough strength to put up enough resistance that if the Superior wanted to attack them with the intent of exterminating them that Xigbar should be in the clear in not looking like he'd disobeyed the Superior's direct orders.

This was risky, but Xigbar needed to recover the Girl, and that was "His" priority.

Looking to the forces accumulated before him, waiting unaffected by the freezing cold atmosphere around them; such perfect tools, always ready to obey and do as they were ordered.

That what Xigbar loved about these pathetic husks that were once people; until they're hearts were claimed by Darkness or taken by the Heartless leaving behind these shells of their former selves, such useful tools.

Spreading his arms out before him, Xigbar gave an order that the Nobodies have been waiting for; and if they good feel anything, they would have been pleased with the particular order.

"Prepare for battle, we are going to have some fun with the Rats of this world!"

With a wicked grin on his face, Xigbar began opening a portal of Darkness large enough for his forces to move through; the destination was a part of what was left of the town that resided directly over the caver that housed what remained of Hollow Bastion's forces.

He would strike them quick and clean, like any good sniper, before they even saw him coming.

It was slow going but his forces began moving through the gateway of Darkness and he would wait till all his forces were through, and once they were he would join them on the other side and begin his attack on those vermin's sanctuary.

With that same grin on his face, the needle gun user continued to watch his forces go into the portal.

Not even noticing the lone figure that hovered just overhead watching everything.

Flapping her wings to keep her aloft, Yuffie watched as the sliver legion moved through the portal for only a moment longer before she turned in midair in the direction of Hollow Bastion.

She needed to report this to Leon and warn everyone at Sanctuary.

It was only by sheer luck that she even discovered that wannabe pirate reject and the forces he brought with him when she thought about taking the long way back to Sanctuary by going passed the canyon just to test her wings better and have some fun flying around with no roof over her head.

Yuffie found that as long as she kept moving she was relatively warm even in the winter clothes she got from the same warehouse Naminé and Olette got their winter wear from.

The winged ninja was wearing a caramel colored coat that went down past her thighs, along with a pair of light brown leather gloves, and yellow scarf with a brown skullcap to top it off. Since she had wings now, Yuffie had to cut slits in the back of them so she could wear it properly, and it was a major hassle to put on with her wings flailing about trying to get them into the openings she'd made.

There was a surprising amount of clothes in that warehouse now that Yuffie thought about it. It was no wonder she Naminé and Olette managed to find such good quality clothes that matched them so easily; curtesy of Squall choosing to stock up on supplies before all this happened.

Then when Yuffie saw Olette wearing a brown trench coat with a pair of black leather gloves and a skullcap, her heart gave a flutter at how good the brunette looked; oddly adorable with the skullcap on over her head, but gruff looking thanks to the color of her attire and the battle weariness the dual-wielder had do to the continues battles she'd been through.

These thoughts brought an ache into the young ninja's heart; she really did miss Olette, but she knew it would take time for the brute of a girl to truly forgive her behavior back in Agrabah.

And Yuffie accepted that, she would just have to be patient.

With that in mind Yuffie continued her flight over Hollow Bastion to one of the hidden entrances to Old Hollow Bastion, than from there she would make her way to Sanctuary and hopefully be in time before that needle gun carrying bozo could execute his preemptive strike.

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

"Xion…"

Naminé paused to stand a couple feet behind Kairi when she heard the redheaded Keyblader whispered that name.

'Who's Xion?' The blonde mage wondered to herself.

Kairi didn't seem to notice her just yet, but Naminé took the moment to stop and look at what was in front of her rather than focusing all her attention on the girl she loves.

She finally noticed that Kairi was kneeling in front of another person. It was the same girl who had been found wandering the surface of Hollow Bastion, the girl who looked so much like Kairi that it was disturbing, and the very same girl that nearly killed Ashe and Basch had it not been for Olette using all her strength to knock her unconscious.

Naminé saw that Kairi had placed her hand on the girl's cheek and just seemed to be staring at her, not being able to see her face; Naminé wasn't able to see the small trail of tears going down her lover's face.

Olette was right behind Naminé and saw the same thing, she was extremely curious as to who this 'Xion' girl was, clearly the owner of that name was the chained girl; and why Kairi seemed to know the name of a girl who none of them had ever seen or heard of and who appeared out of nowhere and attacked their forces.

She knew she'd have to wait to get those answers, but she really wanted to get those answers soon, but she knew she'd have to wait.

Naminé also had similar questions as her brunette girlfriend, but knew to hold on to those questions for a better time. But at the moment, Naminé just wanted to be with both the girls she loves and be close to them.

With that in mind Naminé made her presence known.

"Kairi..."

Startled, Kairi dropped her hand and looked behind her to see both Naminé and Olette right behind her; watching her and giving Xion slight glances with a mixture of expressions going from worry, anxiety, to curiosity.

Seeing them, Kairi stood back up while wiping her tears away and turned to them fully.

"Hey guys… "

Kairi's voice, no matter how she tried to hide it, had a slight tremble to it from the amount of emotions she was trying to control after seeing her "Sister" her before her.

This did not go unnoticed by the two girls in front of her.

Naminé glanced between Kairi and the girl chained to the wall and ground with a concerned look on her face.

"Kairi, are you-"

The blonde mage began to ask Kairi if she was feeling okay, but was interrupted by a sudden tremor from the caver ceiling above their heads and along with it came a shower of dust and small fragments of stone.

All those in Sanctuary looked up as another tremor shook the large cavern once again.

Naminé and Olette looked up in confusion, as did most of Sanctuary's occupants. But a small minority knew what this was.

Kairi was included in that small number.

The redheaded Keyblader looked to her girlfriends then to her "sister", whom was also looking to the ceiling; but with the blank expression that she always carried.

She knew what was coming, and so did Leon, as was evident when she heard him shouting orders to his militia to prepare for combat and get all non-combatant to safety.

This got Kairi out of her sudden daze when adrenaline shot through her veins from the anticipation of a battle as she summoned her Oathkeeper.

She looked to Naminé and Olette, who now have summoned their Keyblades after hearing Leon's orders for combat preparations to commence.

"Dammit! Can we never catch a break?"

Olette's cursed as adjusted her eye patch before taking a defensive stance in front of Naminé and Kairi, vowing to protect them from any dangers to come.

Kairi looked from her girlfriends to her sister, she need to protect them, all of them. She will not allow any of them to fall into the same Darkness that had claimed her when she died.

In this, Kairi was determined to fight for; and give it her all.

"Olette! Naminé! Formation: Groundhog!"

Looking back at the tactician of their group; Both Naminé and Olette smiled at seeing their leader acting like her old self. Olette had been getting worried that if Kairi didn't come out of her funk that she'd have to take up the mantle, and she knew that in its self would have been a disaster.

"Well look whose back Naminé, our fearless leader that still hasn't changed that stupid name for this formation." Olette laughed, despite the situation, she was happy. Ever since they found Kairi and the others in Castle Hollow Bastion, the redhead didn't seem herself; but now she was back and looked more determined than ever.

"Oh shut up Olette! You couldn't think of anything better." Kairi pouts for a moment as another tremor shook the cavern and caused the redhead to look up again than back at the smirking brunette.

"Now get over her and get ready to fight." She then looked to the white clad mage, whom was smiling sweetly at the light-hearted bantering between her two girlfriends.

"Naminé I want you to use whatever defensive magic to help back us up, we'll protect you, and if you see any chance to take out groups of nobodies in one go, take it, but don't push yourself past your limit."

Still smiling at Kairi, Naminé nodded appreciatively at that last comment, showing that Kairi was concerned as always for the young magician to not overdue her use of her magic.

"I'll do what I can; you can count on me Kairi."

Naminé responded with a determined gaze that rivaled the redheaded warrior's as she moved to stand behind Kairi and next to the chained girl, who was watching them curiously as they prepared for the coming battle.

Still smirking Olette walked up next to Kairi and took up her defensive stance again beside the redhead.

Shaking her head at the brunette's antics at a serious time like this, Kairi looked around as the occupants of Sanctuary prepared for the coming attack.

While the quakes continued unabated; the militia of Hollow Bastion prepared to defend their Sanctuary to the end, they would not go down without a fight, no matter the odds stacked against them. Especially after the destruction and death these creatures had brought to their world, their home.

At that moment, Yuffie came flying through the entrance from Old Hollow Bastion as the tremors got louder and closer through the ceiling of Sanctuary. She took a brief moment to catch her breath and shake off the frost that clung to her from being on the surface before she looked around for Leon.

The ninja knew that the Organization's forces had begun their assault as they smashedd through the surface of Hollow Bastion directly above Sanctuary. She needed to inform Leon on the size and type of forces they were up against.

Yuffie finally spotted the leather clad swordsman coordinating the defenders positions and jobs in the most effective way with what resources he had. As if sensing her gaze on him, he looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with the winged girl as she makes her way towards him.

"Leon, I have information on the enemy's forces!" Yuffie shouted over a fairly loud quake that came with the first crack in the stone sky above, causing small chunks of stone to rain down upon the militia members that stood underneath it directly.

"What are we dealing with Yuffie!?" Leon shouted back as another shockwave shook Sanctuary, causing new cracks to form on the cavern ceiling and making the old ones expand and grow.

"They have a few hundred smaller types, mostly Dusk, Assassins and Dancers, but they also have about a dozen Berserkers, and even more Samurai types. But the biggest problem will be the big guy that that wannabe pirate brought with him." Yuffie explained as quickly as she could while more pieces of the ceiling came crashing down on the ground from the many fractures that continued to form.

"We'll deal with that when it appears, we'll need to deal with the small fries first and ensure the safety of any non-combatants first." Leon looked to the winged ninja next to him.

"I'll need you in the air, take out whatever you can from above when the fighting starts, and if you see any of our forces struggling in certain areas, I want you to reinforce them to where they can handle themselves and move on to any others in need."

Yuffie was impressed by Leon's ability to somehow manage to say all that in one breath and so fast without even turn purple from lack of oxygen.

"You have the most mobility here and we need to take advantage of that. When the battle begins, get up there and give them hell." The swordsman said with a slight grin as he pointed up towards the cracked stone sky.

With that said, Leon turned to the militia force he was coordinating with and began to relay altered instructions on their defenses. Seeing that, Yuffie took to the air, flying straight up and hovered in place, looking for a certain brunette from her higher-point of view.

The quakes and tremors continued to rock Sanctuary as whatever creature, mostly likely that big Nobody that scar face brought with him, persistently powered its way through the surface to get into the underground caver.

This was bad. Yuffie need to find Olette, she need to prote-

CRACK!

The ceiling finally gave way under the numerous attacks from above as a mass of gray flesh in the form of a fist, creating a large hole in the stone sky. Sending down a hail of rock and stone down upon the protectors of Sanctuary, some stones only being small debris and pelting the men and women of Hollow Bastion, and others being large chunks of rock that tumbled downward and crushed whatever it made contact with along its path of destruction.

This devastation elicited screams of terror as a few of the larger projectiles of stone landed where most of the civilians were located among the many tents and shacks they had taken up residence in.

"DAMMIT! RAID OF THE LION!"

That's all Yuffie heard before a figure in a brown coat came flying towards the mitten like hand that had created the breach.

Well… Yuffie found Olette.

Olette was pissed. She was tired of having to fight for even a moment of peace. She knew she was supposed to guard Naminé with Kairi when the battle began, but seeing those stones rain down and crush whatever poor soul had been in its path had caused the duel-wielder to snap!

Soaring toward the massive fist, Olette used her momentum from her jump to begin a rotation with her Keyblades, intending to cut that damn things hand clean off.

Just before contact, the hand retracted back into the hole it created; causing Olette to slam her Hero's Crest into one of the sides of the tunnel, her Keyblade embedded itself in the stone, leaving the brunette dangling from her grip on Hero's Crest.

Looking up into the newly made entrance into Sanctuary, Olette saw what was coming, a mass of Nobodies, a mere fraction in comparison to the massive legion that originally attacked Hollow Bastion, but enough to be considered a serious problem with their current forces.

Seeing the Warrior of Light, the Nobodies felt the strongest urge to consume her, to make her hollow as they were; they all rushed through the tunnel to consume the Warrior and all other beings in this cave, as they were ordered to.

Yuffie saw the silver mass of Nobodies barreling down on the brunette and began to dash forward to the girl she loves before the enemy was upon her.

Olette dematerialized her Keyblade and began to fall, hoping to avoid the onslaught that was less than ten meters away.

Damn, maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Olette had just finished that thought when something hit her in the back and carried her away just as the army of Nobodies exited the tunnel; they were then greeted by a massive barrage of bullets, fireballs, ice-spikes, thunderbolts, arrows from every direction, and to top it all off, a great lance of fire courtesy of Naminé, dealing an immense amount of damage to the Organizations forces.

Looking behind over her shoulder, Olette saw what, or rather who was carrying her bridle style.

Yuffie was huffing a bit as she carried the brunette back down to the surface while the barrage of magic, bullets, and arrows continued to effectively annihilate any Nobody that tried to enter through the tunnel.

"Yuffie… Where did-" Olette began.

"Shut up! That was way to reckless of you and you know it." Yuffie huffed out, tickling Olette's neck, before setting down near where Kairi and Naminé had watched their girlfriend's actions from.

What Olette didn't know was the young sorceress had begun summoning Ifrit's Lance the moment she finished saying 'Raid of the Lion' and was ready to protect her before the brunette even knew she was in danger.

Once the young ninja landed Olette squirmed a bit to get put down, trying to push down her embarrassment of; one, failing in her attack on the enemy and two, being carried away from danger by her ex-girlfriend bridle style in front of her current girlfriends.

Yuffie notices this, but refused to set her down just yet; this may be her last moment with her this close, and she'd at least take a chance before this battle begins or she may never get another chance.

Still squirming in Yuffie's arms, Olette turns to glare at her to be put down.

"Yuffie could you-" She froze as she felt a slow kiss on her cheek from the girl holding her. Olette's nose was filled with the ninja's scent, vanilla with a hint of caramel, and just as quick it had come, it was gone.

Olette just looked at Yuffie, slightly confused and slightly stunned for a moment before the winged girl set her down gave her a smile then took to the sky as the bombardment on the passageway made by the Nobodies began to waver, the Dusks and Assassins began to slip into Sanctuary and attack the militia on the ground.

Watching Yuffie fly away and into a group of Nobodies and began cutting them up with her oversized shuriken; this snapped the brawler out of her stunned stupor.

Shaking her head, Olette looked to where Kairi and Naminé stood about ten meters away in the same place Olette had left them. Only this time they were fighting a battle of their own.

Kairi stood in front of Naminé and the useless chained girl, taking down any Nobody attempting to get near her and those with her while the blonde mage fired spell after spell into any groups of Nobodies around them, and taking any chance to use curative magic on Kairi and other defensive spells to protect her.

Olette rushed back to them; regretting having ran off like that, leaving Kairi alone to defend Naminé alone.

As she moved to regroup with the others, a group of Dusks and Dancers moved to intercept her, but she wasn't having any of that.

When the Nobodies were only meters away and directly in front of her, Olette dashed forward and leapt into the air and began a rotation with her two Keyblades outstretched and with the momentum she came straight down into the group of Nobodies; cut into them with ease, her superior strength crushing them with little effort

Once she cut clean through that group of Nobodies, Olette had to deal with a bunch of stragglers that were foolishly attacking her either one at a time or in small groups of four as she continued to make her way to Kairi's side.

She crushed all opposition; and before long, Olette was back at Kairi's side and protecting Naminé.

"Welcome back lover-girl, do try not to leap across the cavern and risk your life please!" Kairi shouts to Olette as she sends a fireball into a small cluster of Dusks that were on their way towards them; successfully turning them into a puff of smoke, only to have them immediately replaced by another set of Nobodies.

"Gee thanks, and don't worry, I'll be more careful not to react without thinking next time!" Olette yells back with a slight blush on her face as she swung Circle of Life in a wide arc in front of her, taking out the two Assassins and a Dancer before throwing Hero's Crest into the chest of a nearby Berserker that was moving in their direction, embedding itself in the Nobodies chest before it shatter.

Recalling Hero's Crest back to her hand, Olette kept on the defensive with Kairi while Naminé supported with healing magic, and using destructive magic every now and then to take out clusters of enemies when she could.

What once was a place to take refuge was now just like the surface during the battle. Chaos. The smell of blood and dust and the screams of the suffering filled the air.

The smell of blood made Kairi sick more than ever while she tried to keep herself from vomiting as the smell reminded her of her death. But she needed to keep fighting, for Olette, Naminé, and for Xion. She would not let them be harmed.

Throughout Sanctuary Kairi's family fought their own battles for the ones they love.

Tifa and Aerith had been enjoying their meal together after they were treated for their injuries when the tremors began to shake Sanctuary.

Both Tifa and Aerith had been allowed to take Hi-Elixirs, these were reserved for only the best of their forces, to help them recover as quickly as possible in case they were needed for any coming battles.

It was quite effective and they were recovering quickly, most of Tifa's wounds were healed, and Aerith felt that a large portion of her magical energy had returned after she took the Hi-Elixir.

But as they ate their meals on the cot together in the medical tent; the tremors began, causing Tifa to become pissed off.

"DAMMIT! Can we not get a moments peace!" The martial artist shouted over the quakes from above to Aerith, whom sat right next to the raven haired woman.

"Tifa, I'm right next to you. There's no need to shout when I can hear you just fine if you talk normally." The sorceress scolded as another tremor shook Sanctuary.

Aerith stood up with Tifa and headed outside to be greeted by a shower of dust and stone as a gray fist punched through the cavern ceiling; sending large chunks of stone sailing into different parts of Sanctuary, and hearing the screams of terror from those that were injured from the hail of stone brought a rage into Tifa's being, and a sadness to Aerith's as more the loss of more lives.

Looking up at the now breached stone ceiling, both women saw a winged figure hovering a safe distance away from the newly made tunnel.

"Is that Yuffi-" Tifa began to ask, but was cut off by a very familiar shout from nearby.

"DAMMIT! RAID OF THE LION!"

Having not looked away from the breach, Tifa and Aerith saw a figure in brown go flying from somewhere on the ground straight toward the hand that made the hole in the ceiling in an attempt to attack it.

"Olette!" Tifa shouted as the massive hand retracted back into the tunnel and her student slammed into the tunnels inner walls and dangled in the open air from her Keyblade.

After Yuffie caught Olette and flew her back to the surface of Sanctuary, the barrage started as Nobodies tried to pour into the cavern and after the start of the onslaught of magic and other missile weapons began to falter and Nobodies began to enter Sanctuary and attack people on the ground Tifa and Aerith joined the fray.

Tifa took up defending her lover while Aerith guarded her with magic and destroyed any groupings of Nobodies at once whenever she could.

Tifa pounded anything that came at her and Aerith into the ground as they maneuvered themselves into a better defensive position near the caver wall.

"Praise to Lira, praise to Volt, I summon from thee the power of annihilation to destroy those that stand before me! Ramuh!" Aerith said as a bolt of lightning formed in her outstretched hand and raised it over head.

"Judgments Bolt!" The mage shouts as she lets loose the bolt in the direction of the breach in the ceiling, destroying everything in its path and slamming into the midst of the Nobodies that poured out of the tunnel and into Sanctuary.

This was going to be another hard pressed battle for sure. Tifa could tell just by the sheer number of enemies that kept coming; but she would not allow even a single molecule of one of these things to get anywhere near Aerith, This Tifa swore on her life.

With that in mind, the raven haired martial artist continues to fight and protect her lover.

Elsewhere, Leon had regrouped with Ashe, Basch and their forces near the breach as they set up a defensive line to try to hold off the bulk of the Nobodies that made it into the cavern.

With Ashe and Basch working in sync together and taking down Dusks, Dancers, Assassins, Samurai, and Berserkers with relative ease as they switch between defensive to offensive positions to adapt to whatever opponents they went up against.

Leon truly admired they're teamwork, and was very happy to have them at his back.

They held one front near the area around the breach while Leon led the other, and his forces were about to get overrun if he didn't get help soon.

As he expanded the blade of his gunblade and slashed a horizontally arc in front of destroying any Nobodies in front of him within six meters and followed up with a leap over the heads of the large group of enemies that followed after the first, right where he wanted them.

"BLASTZONE!" Leon shout as all his magic flows into his gunblade and a pillar of destructive light shoots out and obliterates everything it makes contact with, and when Leon swung the beam of light in a wide arc into the Nobodies that didn't know better to dodge rather than keep moving forward into oblivion, he managed to take out a majority of the Nobodies out with a single swing.

But that wasn't enough.

The silver beings just kept coming, and his forces didn't have much left in them, he needed help here.

As if to answer his thoughts, a wave of familiar energy in the form of a slash came out of nowhere and annihilated a massive amount of Nobodies in one go.

After the dust cleared, Leon's suspicions were only confirmed he sighted blond spikey hair and a sword nearly larger than the one who wielded it.

Cloud stood before the silver legion and merely scoffed at them, then looked at Leon.

"Are you truly having trouble with these weaklings Old Man?" Cloud asked with a smug expression.

"Oh by all means, do what you do best Runt; go hit something." Leon made a shooing motion to the blonde swordsman before drinking an ether potion to replenish his magic.

"Get over here Old Man and I'll show you how to crush these pathetic worms. You may learn something."

It was Leon's turn to scoff now.

"Ha, I doubt that; let's just do the crushing part shall we?" Leon stated as he stepped up next to the Cloud as a new mass of Nobodies formed and moved on their position.

"Loser buys the drinks tonight?" Leon asked his not so mutual friend, who only nodded as an answer.

Now it was down to the most skill and to see who got the most kills. This was a game they played many times.

"This should be interesting." Leon stated just as they both charged forward to crush their enemies.

Up in the air above Sanctuary, Yuffie was multitasking like no other.

She was cutting into groups of Assassin Nobodies like a hot knife through butter, looking for militia in need of 'Air' support, and she was contemplating the consequences of her actions earlier with Olette before the battle started.

Was she going to be mad at me? The ninja though as she threw her shuriken through a lone Assassin that tried to 'ninja' a ninja, but Yuffie could see through any stealth these sliver bastards could ever try.

Maybe she'll just brush off the cheek kiss like it was nothing? Yuffie pondered to herself as she say that the battle was going from bad to worse.

There were more Nobodies still pouring in, and the fighting had escalated too drastically.

They needed to figure out a way to seal the breach and stop the steady flow of enemies from getting into Sanctuary, either that or just wipe-out all of Organization XIII forces that were brought here with Ol'WannaBePirate jerk face. But that would take time and lives that needed to be protected.

"God dang it! What can we do?" Yuffie asked herself in frustration.

Suddenly an explosion caught the ninja's attention near the center of the cavern, so she banked in the explosions direction, and she wasn't at all surprised at what she found.

Yuffie found a large crater in an open area of the cavern that had no tents or buildings within a hundred meter radius, a testing ground that was set up by a specific explosive fanatic.

Said fanatic stood near the crater fighting groups of Samurais and Dancers

"Cid!" Yuffie shouted as she threw her shuriken at a cluster of Dancers, taking out three out of the five that were in that group, and then redirected her shuriken toward the group of four Samurai, she managed to take out two of them before she landed behind Cid.

"Howdy Yuf, mind help'n me with these here' bast'ards?" the old engineer yells over the sound of battle while he casually put a cigarette in his mouth and light it with his custom lighter, then proceeded to level his lance at the enemies around them.

"That why I'm here Bomb Man." Yuffie shout back while standing back to back with Cid, and at that moment her shuriken returns to her as she catches it out of the air, and take up her fighting stance.

More Nobodies began to appear around them, but these were small fries in comparison to the things she and Ol'Cid have fought before. This fight would be a piece of cake for the two of them; once Yuffie thinks that, as if on que, all the silver being charge the Ninja and Old Engineer.

Ok… maybe not… Yuffie thinks to herself before bracing for the fight.

Until everything five meters away from her and Cid explodes, incinerating every Nobody that had been previously charging them.

Turning around to look at Cid, Yuffie saw the smug look on his face… and the detonator in his hand. All that was left were scorch marks and the small amount of earth and rock that she and Cid stood on, everything around them was a crater.

"Gee, thanks for the warning Ya Old Coot!" Yuffie yelled at the older man as she rubbed at her ears as they range from the explosions; and Cid's response only enforced her idea of getting all and any explosive materials away from the old engineer.

"Huh? Wha'd Ya say?" Cid asked Yuffie while cupping his ear, as if that would help him hear her better.

Before she could answer, more Nobodies began to appear around them, again they were surrounded again, only this time there were not as many as there were before. If they all rush at one, they'd be manageable unlike before.

And as before, they all rush Yuffie and Cid, both of whom had taken up their usual fighting stance; one with a lance and a ton of bombs, and one with a giant shuriken and a ton of tricks up her sleeve.

Now this will defiantly be a piece of cake. Yuffie thinks as she swings her shuriken into the first Nobody to come within range.

As the battle raged on around her; the Girl was getting more and more aggravated and her instinct were going into overdrive as they continued to push her to eliminate all the threats around her but the chains holding her in place kept her from even standing, let alone fight.

She could only watch as the girls in front of her fought off wave after wave of enemies, until they noticeably starting to slow down as hunger and lack of rest began to take its toll on them the longer they went on.

The blonde girl next to her continued to cast spell after spell of… curative magic; at least that's what the information in the Girl's head informed her, that the incantations the blonde recited were spells of healing.

"Tree of the Infinite Forest send me your blessing."

Once Naminé finished the incantation; a green healing glow enveloped Kairi and Olette, relieving the two fighters of some of their pain and exhaustion as they continued to fight against the flood of Nobodies.

The Girl watched as the battle went on around her and the fighters of this world began to push back the sliver tide.

It was slow going, but the flow of Nobody's from the breach were beginning to dwindle to a trickle as the last of the Organization's forces entered Sanctuary.

Kairi took note of this as she cut through a line of Dusks with a horizontal slash after they attempted to rush past her to reach Naminé and Xion.

But before the vapors of the destroyed Dusks even cleared; there was another rush pass attempt by a mix of Dancers and Assassins and again Kairi cut into them, sending them into oblivion, and Kairi noticed that that wasn't the first time a cluster of Nobodies had tried to push passed brunette and red haired fighters to get to Naminé and Xion.

In fact, it was a regularly occurring action the Nobodies attempted throughout their fight with the Keybladers. It could've just been them trying to overwhelm the girls' position by flanking them, but Kairi had a foreboding feeling that there was another reason why they kept on try to slip passed the main defenders rather than focusing all their efforts on them to overpower them like they normally would.

Kairi considered their actions from now and compared it to their actions previously during the battling on the surface before Celsius covered the world in her power.

It was almost as if the Nobodies had a specific target and Kairi and Olette were merely in their way. If so, then what…or who was their target.

Kairi took that moment to glance back over her shoulder.

Naminé, who stood next to Xion, sent a fireball into a mixed cluster of Nobodies that were moving in their direction, causing the silver figures to scatter or be vaporized by the flaming projectile.

Although what caught Kairi's attention wasn't her girlfriend's magic attacks, but the blank stare her sister Xion was giving her. No emotion whatsoever showed on her face, however the only sign of feeling the chained girl gave off was her slight fidgeting against the chains that bound her in place.

Nevertheless, Xion stared directly at Kairi, watching her…

Is she what the Nobodies were after, were they after Xion.

As soon as that thought left Kairi's head; yet another tremor shook the walls of Sanctuary, causing Kairi to look up towards the breach. She expected another swarm of Nobodies to enter the cavern, but what did come through the breach was much worse than a swarm of Dusks, Dancers, and even Berserkers.

A thin Gray pillar shot out of the breach in the stone sky and hovered suspended in the air over Sanctuary.

Kairi watched, as did many others in Sanctuary, as the pillar began to expand and shift into a humanoid shape.

Moving like water, the pillar grew two mitten like arms, two greave like legs, wide sharp shoulders, and a head bearing the Organization's symbol wrapped in what looked like a scarf until the four tendrils that hung from its neck began to move and flow about behind the massive Nobody.

Once it was fully formed it began to shift its head back and forth, as if looking for something in Sanctuary.

Kairi watched as Nobody's head looked in their direction and stopped. It found it's target, and it was them.

The Nobody's whole body, rather than turning in the direction it's head was facing like a normal creature would, shifted entirely as if made of liquid and faced the same way it's head was looking before it surged forward in the Keybladers direction.

Twilight Thorn spotted its main objective.

Its orders we're to retrieve the cloaked doppelganger their Superior created and fall back immediately.

It's target lay chained down close to the back wall behind the warriors of light; the Keybladers; but they were irrelevant.

Twilight Thorn had its orders and it would carry them out to fulfill its master's plans.

And nothing would stop it from completing to its objective.

As the large Nobody closed the distance between them, Kairi looked over her shoulder for a brief moment; Xion still looked at her with the same blank expression as before; still nothing, no emotion whatsoever.

This may not be the sister she remembers, but Kairi was going to protect her… and after this fighting was over; she was going to find the Xion she knew within this shell of a girl. She had to be in there somewhere, and Kairi would find her.

Looking back at the approaching threat, a new surge of energy shot through Kairi's veins as she braced for the coming fight to protect both the girls she loved and her sister.


	5. Bringing Down a Goliath – Broken Chains

**A/N**

Sooooo Yeah… I know this is a long time coming, but work has kept me busy and I finally had time to get back into this and crack down… Slow as it was, but please forgive me for the long awaited chapter and dumb Author's Note chapter and enjoy the legit new chapter in the Valiant Hearts story. As always please review and let me know what you think. Also I would like to ask if anyone would be interested in making a Commissioned Cover for this story. PM me if interested. Any who! Please enjoy my work.

 **Valiant Hearts III  
**

**Chapter 4**

 **Bringing Down a Goliath – Broken Chains**

Xigbar smiled wickedly as he watched the Twilight Thorn shift and fold into itself before entering the tunnel it created to join the rest of the Organization's forces down where the Rats fled to.

He heard, and felt, the first attempts of the vermin's resistance as the ground he stood on shook slightly from whatever attack they used on the first wave of his forces. But it was useless of them to resist; sooner or later they would be overwhelmed and then they would die.

Xigbar laughed as he floated over the tunnel itself before he himself descended into the passageway to watch, and maybe cause, the carnage.

The still smiling sharpshooter floated down and down as he heard the sounds of battle grow louder as he got closer to the Rats nest; and his smile grew wider as he finally entered the caver where the insects took shelter, thinking they were safe, and seeing the chaos his army brought into this pathetic little hole… He was right.

Xigbar watched the fighting from his elevated position above the battle as he floated over it all.

He saw the defenders spread throughout the cavern with their futile attempts of resistance. He saw four figures paired off in front what looked to be a defensive line of their forces just under where Xigbar floated.

One of the pairs were a woman and a man, the woman with a sword and buckler and the man with a spear, fighting back-to-back, working in perfect unison against his Nobodies, but they were slowly being overwhelmed; and in front of the defensive line that was flanking the other side of the breach was the other pair of swordsmen.

Xigbar watched as the two swordsmen wiped out Nobodies with every swing of their swords. He would have been concerned with how quickly they cut through his forces but the fact that they appeared to be tiring and that they too were about to be surrounded and overcome by the sheer amount of his Nobodies; this just showing that no matter how good of a fighter you were… you could still be overrun by a larger force of weaker beings.

Suddenly an explosion off to his left on the other end of the cave got his attention briefly as he glanced over catch a glimpse of leather wings before smoke from the abrupt explosion concealed it from view.

But what got his attention most was the massive grey from that was the Twilight Thorn as it floated over the chaos under him before it suddenly shot forward towards four lone figures up against the cavern wall.

Thanks to his sharpened sniper eyes, he saw exactly what got his Twilight Thorn's attention.

It was them, those damn Keybladers…all three of them; two he would understand, but all three; how? He saw the redhead die when they failed the transfer to his experiment…And behind them…was that…?

Xigbar caught a glimpse of black hair behind the three Keybladers before the Twilight Thorn moved into his line of sight, blocking his view of the Keybladers; and leaving him with a strange feeling of familiarity as the Twilight Thorn's elongated arm reach passed the Keybladers towards the slumped figure behind them, was that…?

 **-Valiant Hearts III-**

Kairi braced with Naminé and Olette for an impact that never came, but instead they felt the air around them shift as the giant Nobody's hand shot passed them, causing all three of them to look back in time to see the massive gray mitten close around a still chained Xion.

A sudden rush of overwhelming rage took control of Kairi as she moved faster than she thought possible while feeling a rush of cold tighten her chest.

Naminé watched in horror as the giant Nobody's hand closed around the chained girl next to her; but before she or Olette could react, Kairi turned into a blur of movement and in the next moment… the Nobody's hand fell limply to the floor next to the chained girl as a wail of pain from the Nobody echoed off the cavern walls to join the chorus of the sounds of battle as it retracted it's now stump of a hand to inspect it.

The blond mage looked passed the severed hand to see a furious looking Kairi lowering her Oathkeeper after she cut the appendage clean off and the young sorceress thought she saw small tendrils of darkness coming off her girlfriend, but it was gone an instant later; leaving Naminé to wonder if she actually saw them at all.

Suddenly a wail of rage overwhelmed the sounds of batter as the monstrous Nobody roared in anger at the loss of its appendage before it looked back in their direction before rushing at them with another shout of rage, but this time it didn't going for the chained girl with its massive fist… it went for Kairi.

Realizing the Nobody's intent; Naminé responded first.

"Mirror of Jewel's, protect us and repel our attacker!"

Kairi hear those words before she could even think how to counter the Nobody's attack as a wall of glass looking energy surrounded them, and when the Nobody's fist made contact with the barrier; a wave of energy matching the power of the attack was reflected back at it and pushed the Nobody back slightly, giving Olette her chance.

As the Nobody flinched back and the barrier fell, Olette leapt forward straight for the monsters head.

"RAID OF THE LIOJN!"

With the boost of magic; Olette shot forward faster before slamming into the Nobody's head. Burying both of her Keyblades down to the hilts into the beasts head, and to the brunette's satisfaction, causing it to wail in pain.

"GOT YA THAT TIME YOU BIG BASTRD!" Olette yelled out before she gripped her Keyblades tighter as the Nobody continued to swung its head in pain for a moment before it stopped and moved its hand up to grab at Olette.

Seeing it's hand coming, the dual-wielder released her keyblades to fall just past the Nobody's neck before she re-summoned them into her hands and stabbed them into the grey flesh that was the monster's chest while she fell and attempted to cut the beast from chest to end by dragging her blades through the creature's body.

But before she could drop to the ground and get away, one of the tendrils on its back wrapped around Olette's waist and yanked her from its chest before slamming her into the nearest wall and leaving her stuck in it with cracks webbing out around her.

The impact caused Olette to let out a cry of pain, only no scream came, only blood and a wave of pain shot through her so fierce it nearly caused her black out; but by sheer will she stayed conscious. She needed to protect them… she needed to fight!

Kairi felt a new wave of rage shoot into her veins as she saw this monster slam Olette into the wall, and before she knew it, she was in the air and bringing her Oathkeeper down towards the Nobody's body without thinking, but before her attack connected; the Nobody's massive mitten hand wrapped around the redhead's body, jostling her roughly and causing her to us the momentum from her attack to slam her keyblade into the Nobody's flesh as she began to attack it's hand in her fit of rage.

Then seemingly out of nowhere, a large crystal of ice slammed into the Nobody's body, causing it to release Kairi. Whom of which dropped down and landed hard on her side producing a groan of pain from the redhead as she got to her feet and looked back over her shoulder to see Naminé… a very angry Naminé.

If it was possible for the mage to look angelic and furious at the same time, she was doing it… like an avenging angel as she glared up at the monster before her that had just hurt her loved ones. She would make it pay.

"Lord of fire…lend me your power to burn away my enemies and protect what I love." She swung her keyblade in the direction of the Nobody.

Out of the ground sprouted a roar of fire that engulfed the Nobody completely, making it wail in pain as it was burning and stumbled back away from the group for a moment.

Olette took that time to pull herself out of the wall and drop down to the floor shakily with new cuts and gashes up and down her bruised arms and legs before she moved as quickly as she could, cutting down two or three lesser Nobodies along her way, to stand with Kairi; who gave the brunette a somewhat irritated look before destroying a few Nobodies foolish enough to attack.

"What was that earlier about not being reckless?"

Olette could only tsk and rolled her eyes at those words, which cause a slight pain in her still healing eye; she ignored the pain with a grimace.

"Whatever. We gotta kill this thing before it hurts anyone else. So shut up and back me up will ya!" Olette said as she stepped forward and readied her keyblades.

Kairi gave a tired smile at hearing the brawler's words before moving to stand at her side with her keyblade at the ready as well.

"….be a blessing for our bodies." Was heard before a sudden glow of warm healing light surrounded Kairi and Olette, relieving some of their body's aches and pains as some of their cuts and bruises were healed.

Looking back they saw Naminé gesturing her keyblade at them before she moved forward to stand with them and readied her keyblade.

And both Kairi and Olette had one thought at how she looked in that awkward serious stance.

'So cute' They both thought simultaneously.

Naminé looked over at her girlfriends as they just stared at her with odd expressions.

"Wha-"

Before she could finish her question; a roar of outrage filled the cavern as the burning Nobody rushed them with its large stump of a hand outstretched to strike them.

Suddenly the sound of shattering and shattering chains filled the air and a streak of white shot passed the three Keybladers into the massive burning fist and buried itself deep in the grey flesh, causing the monster to rear back and roar yet again as it was cut into once more.

This sudden event caused Kairi, Olette, and Naminé to look back behind them to see who stopped the Nobody's attack dead.

 **-Valiant Heart III-**

She had watched how these three fought and protected one another… And as they fought a feeling of… rage filled her being.

She needed to act.

Needed to help them… to help her…

Kairi.

That name sent a wave of energy into the Girl as she ripped through what was left of the chains that bound her with what felt like little effort as she saw the monster, no… This Nobody, rushed at the three Keybladers and when she pulled one of her arms free she willed her keyblade into existence and threw it full force into the grey creatures incoming arm, burying it deep.

The beast roared back in pain.

Twilight Thorn was beginning to hate, if it could in fact hate, this whole thing; these little pests and their stinging blades and fire… what a pain… why won't they just die.

JUST DIE YOU LITTE PESTS!

The Nobody roared once more in outrage and pain.

 **-Valiant Heart III-**

Kairi Naminé and Olette all looked back over their shoulders to see that the chained girl had ripped her arm free of her bonds and had, it would seem, thrown her keyblade at the Nobody's attacking appendage… to protect them?

"Xio-"

That name was caught in Kairi's throat as the sound of pure rage was let out in the form of a blood chilling roar as the giant Nobody lunged for them, intending to crush them, but a certain blond mage was ready for it.

"-divine anger and turn them to ash! Thundaja!"

A massive lightning bolt slammed into the beast's chest, but this time it didn't even flinch as it came at them when it moved to crush them under its massive fist; causing the three Keybladers to separate out of the way as the large fist crashed into the floor where they were only seconds ago, sending stone and dust in all directions like shrapnel while leaving a crater in the ground.

Along with the sound of crushing stone and battle was the sound a feminine cry of pain.

"AHH! DAMMIT!" Looking down at the now tattered remains of her shoulder and coat, Kairi saw blood seep out of the tears of the fabric after a shared of stone shrapnel cut through her shoulder from the impact the Nobody's attack when she jumped out of the way.

'Ugh! That stings!' Kairi thought to herself before having to dodge once more away from the Nobody's attack appendage as it swung both its arms in a wide circle around itself in an attempt to attack all of them in one move.

It was somewhat successful.

Naminé had not fully caught herself when she and the others dodged the first time, and this second attack caught her hard across the chest and sent her tumbling through the air and into the dirt, causing her to let out a pained cry and staining her new white clothes with dirt and mud.

"NAMINÉ!" Olette yelled as she regained her balance after just sliding under the Monsters attacking arms only to see her blond love go flying into the dirt.

"YOU BASTARD!" Olette let out another yell as Kairi watched her leap up to assault the giant nobody once again.

"OLETTE DON'T!" Kairi shouted in warning over the sounds of battle, but the brunette was already in motion…as was the Nobody's hand; before the dual-wielder could connect her attack, she was snatched out of the air, but not before she threw her Hero's Crest into the beasts head, to no effect.

The monster didn't even flinch as it yanked and flung the brunette to the ground close to where Naminé was as she was just beginning to get back on her feet when Olette hit the ground hard next to her, leaving cracks in the stone beneath her as she let out a silent cry of pain and blood.

Naminé saw this as she began a curative incantation through gritted teeth as her body throbbed in pain from the hit she took across her chest moments ago as quickly and clearly as she could.

"B…Blessing of the Moon, shine down upon us."

A glow of green light surrounded both Naminé and Olette as they felt their bodies heal and mend painfully quick as the giant Nobody raised its massive fist to finish them as they lay vulnerable' or so it thought.

Twilight Thorn raised its fist to crush these two insects once and for all…Only…Its arm fell to the floor… severed from its body completely. Then came the pain, or at least what would have signaled pain for a Nobody as a punishing surge of agony erupted from the clean cut wound that was now its shoulder as it wailed in pain.

Looking down at it's detached limb… it saw what had so easily unarmed it.

Kairi moved to stand straight up and turned to face the now one armed Nobody while wisps of shadows and darkness floated off her body as she glared up at the monster.

"You will not touch them again…" She leveled her Keyblade at the Nobody.

Olette had gotten back on her feet and was now standing next to Naminé and could hardly believe her eye.

"K-Kairi… How?" Olette stuttered as she and Naminé moved on trembling legs to stand with the redhead as their bodies were still under the influence and pain of the blonde mage's healing incantation, all the while looking at Kairi with expressions mixed with awe and shock at what they witnessed her do.

The strategist hadn't even taken her eyes off the one armed Nobody as it still roared in agony from its missing limb; all the while small tendrils of darkness wavered around her body still, only these ones were slightly smaller than what they were moments ago.

"We need to kill this thing. Here and now; we will talk later. Olette, take out its legs, don't even let it move again; Naminé, I want you to hit its chest with whatever you can without overexerting yourself in anyway and if needed provide support to us if you can." Kairi was giving her orders, like she always did, and both Naminé and Olette new this was the best course of action to defeat this enemy.

Both the brunette and blond smiled at the tactician's words and nodded before they both moved to stand ready with their girlfriend to finish off this Monster and then help fight off the rest of the Organization's forces.

The three Keybladers stood ready to fight when the giant Nobody had pushed back its pain and stopped its wailing and, or so it appeared, seemed to be glaring down at the three warriors of light as its scarf like tentacles shot out around it as it stood full height before it readied itself to kill the three insects before it.

Kairi could feel adrenaline surge through her body as she stood tense and prepared to fight, even as tired as she, Olette and Naminé were, they were going to take this monster down and protect their home and each other.

But just as they were preparing to launch themselves at the Nobody, something highly unexpected happened before the Keyblader or even the Nobody could attempt an attack. The monster's head and scarf tendrils were cut clean off, causing it's body to swell up before exploding into a sliver like mist; as is how all Nobodies die… only on a much larger scale.

The three warriors of Light stood shocked at what had just happened, whatever it is that happened; as the remains of the Nobody shifted through the air and began to clear… They saw what, or rather who, brought the giant nobody down so effortlessly, and what they saw astonished them even further, especially the redheaded tactician.

Standing in the now dispersed silver mist was Xion in her black coat flowing around her with her white keyblade in hand, all the while the chains that once restrained her wrapped around her body and dangled off of her small frame.

The raven haired girl stood there staring at Kairi through the mist before she began walking slowly towards the trio of Keybladers on bare feet; her eye's still trained on the redhead as she calmly approached them, all the while her movements causing the chains wrapped around her to jingle lightly at her advanced.

Naminé and Olette stepped forward in front of Kairi, prepared to fight, and after seeing what this girl did the Ashe, Basch and their men… they weren't going to let her near Kairi if she had any intentions of harming her. Not after all they had gone through to finally be reunited.

But to their surprise; Kairi reached out and gripped each of their shoulders in either hand and gently pushed passed them, ignoring both Naminé and Olette's protests, as she approached the black clad girl… the girl Kairi had called…

"Xion…?" The redhead asked cautiously as she slowly approached her sister while clinching Oathkeeper in her hand tight and at the ready, just in case Xion became hostile, and the sudden strong grip pulling on her shoulder didn't help ease the tension as her head snapped back to see a very anxious Olette holding her back. E

An emerald green gaze met sea blue irises briefly before they broke eye contact and Kairi pulled away from the brunette's grip to meet the gaze of identical blue eyes as she now looked at Xion, who was now standing a mere few feet from the redhead, only now with a faint light in her eyes as their gazes met … a faint light that wasn't there when Kairi had looked into them before.

That gave Kairi hope.

Hope that her sister was still in there somewhere.

As for the brunette and blonde… their minds were elsewhere.

Olette was terrified… something she hadn't felt since she thought Kairi was dead, and seeing her approaching the mysterious girl she called Xion, a person who singlehandedly came close to killing two of Hollow Bastions best back-to-back fighters, and the image of this girl suddenly going after the subject of her affection brought that fear back full force as she watched her girlfriend slowly approach the shorter girl, and the dual-wielder was ready to spring into action at a moment's notice to protect the redhead if she spotted even the smallest indications of hostility.

Naminé stood next to the brawler in stunned silence as she was conflicted on whether to stop her girlfriend from her advance or to trust her and let her continue; she knew that the redhead wouldn't be approaching this Xion if she wasn't confident that she wouldn't be hostile… but the blonde learned some time ago from this war that it was better to be safe rather than sorry; so the young mage was already mentally preparing quick and short incantations ranging from offensive spells to defensive barriers at the ready in case of even a hint of aggression towards Kairi.

Both Olette and Naminé were on edge and only went further over the brink as the distance between Kairi and the raven haired girl named Xion diminished more and more.

Kairi finally stopped her advance towards her sister once there was only a foot separating the two from making physical contact, and the tactician couldn't be more anxious as she was so close to her Xion; close enough to touch, but as much as Kairi wanted to hug and comfort her sister, as sister she thought would never exist in reality but only in her false memories, she restrained herself to not startle or provoke Xion in anyway.

Although along with her tension, Kairi could feel the pressure that was currently emanating behind her…

The redhead may have had her back to her two companions, but she could feel the tense aura the brawler and mage gave off as Kairi closed the distance between herself and Xion; and it warmed her heart even more to know that Olette and Naminé were, as always, there to back her up incase things were to go wrong, and that thought brought a small tired smile to her lips before she refocused her attention back on the girl in front of her.

"Xion?..." Kairi repeated slowly as she now stood before her sister who seemed to tilt her head slightly at hearing her name… a name she may not even have memory of having, but saying her name seemed to be having some effect on the shorter girl; so Kairi would use it and hope that it would help remind Xion who she was.

"Xion…?" The redhead repeated again, "It's me, Kairi. Do you remember me Xion?"

She has to remember me…Please remember... Kairi pleaded to herself as she spoke those words to her sister in hopes of causing something to click with Xion's mind.

 **-Valiant Heart III-**

 _Xion…?_

A name?...

Whose name?...

The Girl's mind whirled with that one word.

No…

That name…

Something in her mind and the growing light within it told the Girl that the name she was hearing was very important to her, that it was it a part of her being somehow?

"Xion…? It's me, Kairi. Do you remember me Xion?" The crimson haired girl spoke again.

There it was again, that name; along with another.

'Xion? Kairi?'

And that other name she already knew even before she heard it told to her. The Girl already had the name etched in nearly all aspect her newly acquired memories. It belonged to the girl in front of her. This was Kairi, this girl with fierce red hair...she was someone important. By now the Girl knew that by how their minds seemed to be connected.

'Kairi…? Xion…?' The raven haired girl thought to herself over and over again in her head for a moment. Her mind seemed to put all focus on those two little words as she repeated them again and again, all the while just staring at the girl in front of her.

'No… not just a girl…'

'Kairi… her name is Kairi.' The Girl corrected herself.

Still in the unfeeling cold, the Girl stood looking into blue eyes that were unknowingly the same as her own before she mentally put all her focus on that one name, and with each time she sent the name through her mind the more the word became easier and more comfortable to hear… to say…

'Kairi…Kairi…Kairi…'

 **-Valiant Heart III-**

"K..Kai..Kairi…"

Kairi's body stiffened, if that was even possible with how tense she already was, when she heard that single word said so quietly and raspy as her eyes went wide while she still stared at Xion in astonishment.

'Did she just…'

'She did! She said my name!' The redhead mentally cheered.

Kairi barely stopped herself as she very nearly rushed the smaller girl, intent on embracing her, but do to not wanting to startle her sister she restrained the urge of overwhelming affection and remained where she stood as a wide grin spread across her tired face as joy practically radiated off her, even after all she had been through, Kairi was still able to smile.

Her sister! Her Xion was in there somewhere and this was the first sliver of proof. Now all Kairi had to do was pull her out.

"Y-yes, that it! That's my name, and your name; your name is Xion… Do you remember?" She asked tentatively.

Kairi took a small step closer to her sister, her gaze; hopeful and pleading; while the gaze that now looked back at her was of confusion, and is the redhead was being honest with herself, that was a step up from the blank emotionless expression she had up until moments ago.

Then she heard it, a quiet hoarse voice just like before…

"X…Xi...Xio-"

"-of the Holy, protect me!" "KAIRI!" Olette's loud shout and Naminé's words cut through the air.

Before she could even react, Kairi was tackled to the ground by a ball of brown leather, and as she, and who she assumed was Olette, landed in a heap on the floor with pained cries, stunning her for a moment before she got her barring again.

Kairi now lay on her back pressed somewhat painfully in the cavern floor while Olette sat atop her, straddling her hips with her legs while her waist up was leaning over the redhead with her arms braced on either side of her head. They were close enough that their breathing tickled each other's faces, a fact that was not lost on either of them by how quickly their eyes went wide and how fast both their faces heated up.

In this brief moment of pause, Olette quickly remembered their situation was and immediately jumped up to her feet, and as she rose she pulled Kairi along with her and as they both got their footing back, both of their faces still ablaze, the redhead noticed what caused her the brunette girl to do what she did; and what she saw gave her a grim reminder of something every important.

They were still in the middle of a battlefield.

The scene before her made her feel like a fool for overlooking her surroundings as much as she did; and what Kairi saw over Olette's shoulder left her slightly dazed.

Naminé stood where Kairi was moments ago, in front of Xion, with Monochrome raised high in front of her as she maintained a barrier of energy around all four of them; and she held the barrier strong as another wave of dozens of small projectiles of energy in the form of needles slammed into the sorceress's protective spell.

If it wasn't for the quick thinking and efforts of Olette and Naminé, Kairi either would be seriously injured or dead.

'Dammit! I let my guard down… Get it together Kairi!' The redhead mentally scolded herself just as another, much larger, wave of energy needles slammed into the blonde's barrier; and just as the barrage of needles ceased a voice that could only be described as pure rage and malice rose up over the sounds of battle.

"YOU MISERABLE LITTLE RATS! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY CREATIONN?!"

Another wave of needles recoiled against the magic shield once more.

Kairi, Naminé, and Olette looked to where the enemy missiles originated from; which was high up above them close to the breach in the caver ceiling, and what or rather who they saw only made their situation worse.

Xigbar had enough!

Bad enough he allowed himself to do nothing as he witnessed his Twilight Thorn get destroyed, but having been so stunned at seeing his Creation be the one to finish the giant Nobody that he just watched as the three Keybladers approach the girl slowly, more specifically the redheaded one… the one that should be dead.

As that thought went through his head it snapped the sniper out of his daze and a sudden wave of what felt like rage swept through him; and before he knew it he had his Arrowguns in his hands before quickly combined them into his rifle, Sharpshooter, and taking aim for the leader of the Keyblader's head.

But as Xigbar fired of a wave of energy bolts, intending to kill the redhead for the second time, it seem the other two Keybladers were not as distracted as their foolish leader, as the two leapt into action as soon as they saw the attack coming. The brute of the three that wielded two keyblades dropped her blades and tackled their leader to the ground and practically sat on top of her, and at the same time their little witch summoned a barrier of magic around them to block his needles completely. And that only pissed him off even more.

The sniper was in an unfamiliar rage as he let loose a vicious shout of fury and another way of energy needles, then another, then another! Yet the barrier held firm and blocked his attacks.

"I don't know how much longer this shield will hold." Naminé said within the barrier, a slight quiver in her voice as she continued to push magical energy into the protective energy dome she created. "I hope you two have a plan?" The blonde asked as she glanced over her shoulder at her girlfriends.

Kairi gave one more blushing glance at Olette before moving to look up at their assailant, whom continued to shout in rage and fire more bolts of energy into the barrier around them.

"Ok, we need to bring mister wanna-be-pirate down to our level. Naminé I want you to drop your shield when I say, then me and Olette willlll…" Kairi trailed off as she turned slightly and spotted Xion standing silently at the edge of the barrier with them while looking up and staring up at Xigbar with an open hand pressed up against Naminé's protective shield, and before Kairi could do or say anything else, the barrier shattered.

Looking up at the man who fired upon her, Xion… her name… had only one task now and target. The threat; and this barrier was in her way... She never removed her eyes from her target as she approached the wall of the barrier and pressed her open hand out against the solid form of energy and sent a small wave lightning magic into it.

The sudden shattering of the protective dome that Naminé was maintaining sent her sprawling to the ground as the shockwave of magic knocked her off her feet and to the ground, that is until Kairi and Olette leapt forward and caught the small blonde between themselves and kept her standing before she could hit the ground.

"Naminé! Are you ok?" Both Kairi and Olette asked simultaneously as they kept their girlfriend on her feet and looked at her expectantly.

Smiling at them both, Naminé nodded thankfully.

"Yes, thanks to-" She didn't get to finish her thanks as a rage filled voice bellowed.

"DIE!"

Once the barrier went down Xigbar took this as his opening to kill all three of these pests once and for all and take back what belonged to him!

"CRIMSON NEEDLE RAIN!" The sniper shouted as he began shooting off dozens upon dozens of energy bolts directed at the three Keybladers, and at this range and the sheer number of projectiles, it was nearly impossible to guard against it.

Kairi and Olette immediately moved Naminé behind them protectively, their instincts moving their bodies without them even thinking, as they both lifted their Keyblades in front of them in a hopeless attempt at blocking the oncoming wave of death. Both of them braced, ready for the coming onslaught.

…

….

Nothing happened… Then there was a quiet yet auditable gasp behind them, assumedly from Naminé.

Noticing this, both the strategist and the dual-wielder looked up past their guards, and what they saw stunned them once again.

Standing in front of the three of them with her white Keyblade held tight in one hand and her other hand opened palm gestured at what had once been a wall of deadly energy bolts; but what it was now was a tight compact ball of energy that was being held together by a powerful gravity spell in the very center of the energy sphere.

Her target hadn't moved, it still hovered up above. Its attack negated, now to counter-attack. Xion's mind seemed to know just what to do to counter nearly all attacks upon instinct, and now she knew just the right way to bring down this… what did the Kairi call her target? Wanna-be-pirate.

With a simple gesture of her hand, she pointed at the floating target; and in the next instance the ball of compact energy shot back in the direction it came from at an unbelievable speed.

Xigbar watched in total shock as his own large scale attack was neutralized so easily and sent flying right back at him in the form of a glowing sphere of death and as it erased any and all distance between him and it, he realized just was screwed he was.

Kairi, Naminé, and Olette watched as the attack that was once aimed for them moments ago now sail through the air and slam into the Organization Member high above and upon impact followed a massive explosion that rocked and shook Sanctuary to its core; drowning out all sounds of battle and it filled the cavern with dust and debris from the cavern ceiling as shards of stone rained down from being blowing off of the stone's surface.

"Those that dirty the world, Barrier, protect me!" Naminé's voice was barely heard as the shockwave from the explosion still bounced off the cavern walls as another dome of energy, somewhat weaker than the first, surrounded the four girls just as shards and other shrapnel fell all around them, destroying any lesser Nobodies that still lingered around them, tearing through them easily.

"Wow, she… Sh-she… that…Wow." Olette struggled to speak as she tried to express her thoughts as she just stared dumbfounded at the raven haired girl a few feet away from her, but to no avail. Kairi was about on the brunette's level of astonished and even Naminé stood with wide eyes at what she just witnessed.

A member of a group so powerful that even the combined skill and might of Hollow Bastion could barely hold its own against them; and here Xion stood completely unfazed by the massive explosion she caused and seemingly just one-shotted a member of Organization XIII.

'This is my sister… And she was possibly the most dangerous being present.' Kairi thought to herself as all she could only stare at her sister's back in amazement.

 **End of Chapter 4**


End file.
